'Blessed is She (Virgencita)' Print on Canvas

Dimensions: 16" x 20" x 1.25" imperial, 40.6 cm x 50.8 cm x 3.18 cm metric. Matte canvas stretched on frame made of radiata pinewood that has been sustainably sourced from renewable forests. Back hanging and rubber stoppers behind bottom corners are included.

'Blessed is She (Virgencita)' is a depiction of Jesus as a newborn with Mary, His mother. The original reference is a photo that I took of a friend holding the two-month-old son of another friend--taken on the day of the baby’s baptism. 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 likely possible for men and women of her social class to mix together the natural dyes available to them to achieve some shades of purple.

Notably, Mary also 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 sculpture by Michelangelo. 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.” Her expression can be perceived as either one of great sorrow upon remembering Anna's prophecy or one contentment as she remembers 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 multiple paradoxes. The infant Christ being both an all-powerful God in his divinity and a dependent infant in His humanity. The ordinary and sometimes monotony of daily life can be the perfect scene of the extraordinary, of Divine Love itself.