Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Help!! Identify This For Me!!


Does anyone know the name of this piece or the artist or any identifying information about it? There is a big one that used to hang in one of the meeting rooms at church. I had seen it a million times but the first time I went into that room after having my first child I looked at it and immediately burst into tears. It just really spoke to me on a whole new level as a mother - I'm sure those post pregnancy hormones didn't help anything! The tender way Jesus is touching Mary's chin and the way her hands are cradling him...it still makes me tear up when I see it. Later, when I was working up at the church, Fr. J had it moved to right outside my office. I got so excited and told him how special it is to me and went on and on about it. A few days later, he gave me a little one - about 6x4 or so. It's very precious to me because he bought it in Italy for his mother who passed away a few years ago but he wanted me to have it when he saw how much I love the painting.

Now I'd really like to find a bigger version for my home. I have scoured the internet and found a lot that are really close but I want this one in particular. Fr. J had told me the name and artist but now I can't remember and I'm embarrassed to ask again! I'm hoping someone can help!!

4 comments:

Web said...

It is a traditional icon called the Virgin of Tenderness or Our Lady of Tenderness.

It's described at Studies: Madonna Types -- look about halfway down the page or do a find for 'virgin of tenderness'.

That page doesn't give any help on particular representations or artists and I wasn't able to find that particular version on the Internets but maybe if you have the title it might jog your memory.

Jennifer @ Conversion Diary said...

Sorry, I'm not sure which icon that is! I spent some time Googling and couldn't find it.

Although it's similar to this beautiful tapestry I'm thinking about getting to hang above the baby's changing table.

Sorry I couldn't help find that specific one. Maybe look through a Google image search on "icon virgin child" or something like that.

Jennifer @ Conversion Diary said...

Oh, cool. Glad to know it's the Virgin of Tenderness. Now that I've been looking around for it that image has really grown on me. :)

Anyway, Monastery Icons has a beautiful wall plaque of that exact image (I think) here.

Stevie Moon said...

Thanks Jen and Web! It's also called Our Lady of Vladimir. I'm finding that there are many versions - all very similar. Now I just have to find the one I like best at the price I like best!