Luke 2:19, continued

Luke 2:19, continued

Detail, Luke 2:19
Copyright  Peter Bougie 2017

Mary wears a red veil. My primary reason for using a red veil instead of blue was for the striking effect of the color note. It makes for a strong focal point around Mary and the baby Jesus and commands attention. I have read that in Eastern Catholic and Russian Icon traditions the red veil was typical, and had a name: maphorion. Upon further reading I found there is disagreement about the meaning assigned to the colors blue and red; one for divinity, the other for humanity. In the painting Mary wears both colors.  The painting strives to show Mary’s humanity through her motherhood, so if red is the color of humanity, it is the dominant color here.

Detail, Luke 2:19
Copyright Peter Bougie 2017

Mary’s expression and gestures are intended to be visual indications of her pondering, and of her great love for her son Jesus. I wanted to be sure that Mary’s hands had the look of hands that did manual work. Her hands probably look older than they should, compared to her face. I think this also ties into another theme going on in the painting, of timelessness, intended to represent Mary pondering over her lifetime the words and actions of Jesus, and to refer to God’s view of human events; “But of this one thing do not be ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8)

Thorns are symbolic of the Passion. They are intended to provoke a bit of squeamishness in their proximity to the baby Jesus. The thorns depicted are from a wild hawthorn (courtesy of John and Deb’s farm), western Wisconsin, North America. They are not exagerrated, they are really that long, very sturdy and quite sharp.

Detail, Luke 2:19
Copyright Peter Bougie 2017

The roses recall the scripture verse Isaiah 11:1: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root.” Roses are associated with apparitions of Mary, such as at Guadalupe, and with many saints, including the Carmelite St. Therese of Lisieux – St. Therese of the Child Jesus.

Detail Luke 2:19
Copyright Peter Bougie 2017

The scenes in the middle ground and the background represent the life and public ministry of Jesus, and His teachings, and as such the focus of Mary’s ‘pondering’ throughout her life. Jesus speaks with a Roman centurion. I had several reasons for including a depiction of a centurion. They commanded large groups of men in the Roman army, men who were skilled and experienced in brutal, close quarters combat. Centurions had to be very tough, very smart men – maybe not the type we associate with gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Centurions are present in several scenes in the gospels. A Roman centurion displays faith which amazes Jesus in a story featured in both Matthew and Luke. The centurion asks that Jesus heal his servant, and Jesus agrees to do so and indicates that He will accompany him to the place where the servant lies. But the centurion replies, “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof, but only say the word and my servant shall be healed.” (Matthew 8:8, also Luke 7:6) We repeat these words at every Mass as we prepare to receive the Eucharist, substituting the words ‘my soul’ for ‘my servant.’ The centurion holds a sword, which recalls the prophecy of Simeon to Mary; “And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.” The sword piercing Mary’s heart refers to opposition Jesus met with in many places, and to His Passion. The latter part of the phrase refers to the responses that people had to Jesus; He brought out a response of latent goodness from some, and of hatred from others. People long for justice, for meaning in their lives, and for the truth about their existence; they also are resistant to and harbor bitterness against the very same things. The centurion holds the sword across his breast, as if taking an oath. In fact, the word sacrament – an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual divine grace – comes from the Latin word sacramentum, which refers to an oath taken by Roman soldiers to defend the republic, and later the emperor. The figure of the centurion is also generally representative of the Roman state, which crucified Jesus. In the gospels of Matthew and Mark, the centurion presiding at the execution bears witness to Jesus: “Now the centurion, and they that were with him watching Jesus, having seen the earthquake, and the things that were done, were sore afraid, saying: Indeed, this was the Son of God.” (Matthew 27:54, also Mark 15:39)

Continued in the next post.
Scripture quotations from Douay Rheims