 The Annunciation was a popular theme in European art , although a difficult scene to paint , because it depicts Mary 's union with Christ as she becomes the tabernacle for the Word made flesh . Mary as Theotokos , the God @-@ bearer , was affirmed in 431 at the Council of Ephesus ; two decades later the Council of Chalcedon affirmed the doctrine of Incarnation – that Christ was of two natures ( God and Man ) – and her perpetual virginity was affirmed at the Lateran Council of 631 . In Byzantine art , Annunciation scenes depict the Virgin enthroned and dressed in royal regalia . In later centuries she was shown in enclosed spaces : the temple , the church , the garden . 
