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These two paintings depict an intersection of time and eternity in the moment of decision offered to Mary by the archangel Gabriel. Her assent to God's invitation will open the door to God's redemption, the door to paradise that was shut since the fall. The ladder connecting the realm of history and eternity is a reference to the cross, which becomes for us a tree of life (painted here as a folk art motif) in contrast with the barren tree of knowledge of good and evil.