'Blessed Is She (Virgencita)' Print on Fine Art Paper

Museum-quality giclée print on 175gsm fine art paper. Included with the print is a 2mm-thick cardstock border. Available in sizes 16" x 20" (40.6 cm x 50.8 cm) and 11" x 14" (27.9 cm x 35.6 cm). Manufacturer has included a white frame but no protective glass shield that typically comes with standard picture frames.

'Blessed is She (Virgencita)' is a depiction of Jesus as a newborn with Mary, His mother. The piece is based off of a photo that I took of a friend holding the two-month-old son of another friend. The photo was taken on the day of the baby’s baptism. He was two months old at the time, and he is the sweetest, most beautiful child. Our friend’s face glowed with contentment and absolute serenity as she rocked him tight in her arms. Christ, who is blameless and innocent, wears white clothes, while his mother, Queen of Heaven, is dressed in purple. While Mary almost certainly did not have access to Tyrian purple clothes worn by nobility, it was possible for men and women of her social class to mix together the natural dyes available to them to achieve some shades of purple. Mary presses a red blanket against Christ’s back. Later, she will witness her Son scourged and beaten, before holding His body in her arms, as depicted by the Pieta. It is a bittersweet moment as she rocks her child to sleep and is reminded that “and [her] heart too, a sword shall pierce,” as foretold by the prophetess Anna at the Temple. The title of this piece refers to the words that the Angel Gabriel told her– “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Perhaps her look of contentment from her remembering the Lord’s promise for her life.  

‘Blessed is She (Virgencita)’ is part of the ‘Santo y Cotidiano’ collection, which depicts various scenes within Christ’s early life. These idyllic, familiar scenes bring to light the paradox of an all-powerful God becoming a small infant in need of care and assert that ordinary, mundane life can be a place of great sanctity with great love.