Debra said:
LOL Ross, what a Joy you are!
I only thought to find a larger image of the painting, which shows clearly the Dove, as Marion saw with her keen eyes.
What a good point--that NO ONE's unaided eyes can see the rings of Saturn!
Odd mistake, for someone specializing in astronomy and astronomical imagery to forget Galileo....
It's true, but I think we've been had again. Diane can deny she said anything about rings in setting up her question asking about the identification of the figure as Saturn. She didn't mention the ring(s).
So we have to ask, what did make her think the figure was Saturn?
The only thing I can imagine her claiming is that it is an old man with a beard, and everybody knows that every old man in the sky with a long, white beard in art from the 00th to the late 19th (c.e.) century, must be Saturn. It wasn't the rings - it was the age and the beard. The fact that the painting is called, and shows in every conventional way, "The Annunciation", is irrelevant. Context be damned.
Ross