"The Mother of Our Lord"
Anonymous Artist

This is a personal favorite. About 30 years ago, I found one of those old-time prints in a thrift store. I loved the composition of the picture and the sweet gentleness of Mary's expression! I've hung it on our walls on and off throughout our marriage.

The doves she is holding to her breast are, on the one hand, the doves she is sacrificing at the Temple in Jerusalem, soon after Jesus was born. But on the other hand, in Victorian Catholic art, unless they are plummeting down from the sky, doves usually refer to you and me, the faithful souls who have recourse to her. Thus the picture is showing Mary as our dearly loving helper throughout the trials of our life.

The original print was done by an anonymous artist at George Stinson & Company of Portland, Maine, and published in 1879. It is a chromolithograph, which was the new technology that allowed them to create it in color without having to hand-paint it. This was an extremely popular print for decades, and it's quite possible that if you had a Catholic great-great-grandmother in the 1880s, up to about the 1930s, there's a good chance she or one of her friends had this on their wall. A huge number of these were sold, and because of its popularity, I could find one in a thrift store generations later.

This copy we offer is a high-resolution image we've restored, taking out the stains and adding brightness to help return it to its original beauty.

I like to keep devotional art on rotation on our walls to keep it fresh and uplifting. As I said, this one has been on rotation since we got married.

** IMPORTANT ** THE IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER! There is a white border of about 0.5" inch for 5x7", 1.3" for 8.5x11", or 1.6" for 11x14" pictures. All Approx! Fine art printers do this because the images are almost never the same rectangular ratio of the standard paper sizes. It also gives the prints a finished look, and lets them look good in a frame without a matt.

- Acid-free paper
- Archival pigments, rated to last for generations.
- Cardboard backer
- Above story of the art
- Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag.

Thanks for your interest!

Thanks!
Sue & John

"In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art." ~ St. Pope John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson - CatholicArtAndJewelry.