Leonardo Da Vinci The Virgin and Child sometimes called The Burlington House Cartoon, is a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. The drawing is in charcoal and black and white chalk, on eight sheets of paper glued together. Because of its large size and format the drawing is presumed to be a cartoon for a painting. (Cartoon meaning a full-size drawing on heavy paper used as a model.) No painting by Leonardo exists that is based directly on this cartoon. The drawing depicts the Virgin Mary seated on the knees of her mother St Anne and holding the Child Jesus while St. John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus, stands to the right. It currently hangs in the National Gallery in London. It was either executed in around 1499–1500, when the artist was in Milan, or around 1506–8, when he was shuttling between Florence and Milan; the majority of scholars prefer the latter date, although the National Gallery and prefers the former.

Donated by: Katharine Kelly in Memory of Anna G. Joyce & Rose V. Kelly

Donated by: Rev. Anand Isukala

Our Lady of Good Health, also known as Our Lady of Vailankanni is a celebrated Catholic title of the Virgin Mary believed to have appeared in the town of Velankanni, Tamil Nadu, India. Traditional beliefs surrounding the Marian apparition is held to have occurred to a young boy in the mid-16th century delivering milk to the neighbor-hood when Mary (carrying a child Jesus) is said to have appeared and asked him for some milk. The iconic depic-tion of the Madonna is unique since it is one of two icons where Mary is portrayed wearing an Indian Sari. As part of the Indian tradition, believers throw flower petals to the image, light incense, and others bring offerings to the church for their personal petitions. This apparition is pending approval by the Holy See and is endorsed by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.

Also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, is a title given to Mary by Pope Pius IX, associated with a celebrated Byzantine icon of the same name dating from the 15th century. The icon has been in Rome since 1499, and is currently in the church of Sant’Alfonso di Liguori all’Esquilino. Redemptorist priests have been appointed as missionaries of this icon, and are the only religious order currently entrusted by the Holy See to protect and propagate a Marian religious work of art. Today, the feast day of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is celebrated on June 27.

Donated by: Jim Futrell

John Lu Hung-Nien There are shrines dedicated to the Virgin in China. Our Lady of China is located near Peiping. It stands in a village named Tong Lu. It was a poor place, perhaps the poorest in the whole region. In 1900, there were some 700 Chris-tians in the little hamlet. Suddenly, the Boxer rebellion swept China. In April, a force of 10,000 rioters attacked Tong Lu. The soldiers started to shoot into the sky. Then suddenly they fled, frightened, and never came back. Ac-cording to the legend, a woman in white appeared, and the rioters' bullets were aimed at her. When the apparition did not fade, attackers had not even time to reorganize because a strange horseman put them to flight. Father Wu, a Chinese priest, confessed to his flock that he invoked the help of Mary. A new church was built on the site and Father Wu placed a picture of Our Lady on the main altar. He asked the painter to dress Our Lady in the royal robes of the dowager Empress Tzi-Hsi. The image of the Blessed Virgin in the royal robes of the pagan Empress, with the Christ Child on her knees, is vivid expression of Chinese tradition.

Donated by: Artz Family

Andrea de Solario This painting hangs in the Louvre, and dates to 1507AD. The painter was born in Milan in 1460 and was initially named Andre del Gobbo, but more confusingly as Andrea del Bartolo, a name shared with two other Italian painters. At the beginning of the 17th century this painting was found in the Cordelier con-vent in Blois. Madonna with the Green Cushion, a devotional image of the Virgin nursing Jesus, has been so called since the 17th century due to the motif of the green cushion placed on a marble plinth in the foreground. This detail, perfectly integrated here within the holy group, is indeed remarkable; with its soft, padded comfort it truly accompanies this scene of family tenderness and well-being.

Donated by: Rosanne Sullivan

Icon: Hand painted on papyrus in the Coptic style. Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile delta of Egypt. It usually grows 5 to 9 feet tall. It was first known to have been used in ancient Egypt, but was also used through-out the Mediterranean region. Coptic art is a term used either for the art of Egypt produced in the early Christian era or for the art produced by the Coptic Christians themselves. It is most well known for its wall-paintings, textiles, manuscripts, and metalwork, much of which survives in monasteries and churches. The artwork is often functional, as little distinction was drawn between artistry and craftsman-ship, and includes tunics and tombstones as well as portraits of saints.

Donated by: Fr. Tom Moran

Raffaello Raphael Sanzio The Madonna of Foligno is a painting by Italian High Renaissance painter Raphael. It was executed by Sigismondo de Conti, friend of Pope Julius II in 1511. It was to be placed on the high altar of the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome. It was moved to the monastery of St. Anne in Foligno is 1565 and remained there for two centuries. In 1797 Napoleon took it to France, but it was returned to the Vatican in 1815 where it resides today. The piece pictured below is but a portion of a much larger piece, repre-senting the Madonna & Child borne by a cloud of angels and framed by an orange disk, with saints be-low them, and a cherub.

Donated by: Gerald & Ruth Byrne

The Black Madonna of Czestochowa is a revered icon, housed at the Jasna Gora monastery in Poland. The origins and its date are contested. The difficulty in dating stems from the fact that the original was painted over after being damaged in 1430. It has been associated with Poland for 600 years. Once of the legends holds that it was painted by St. Luke on a cedar table top used in the house of the Holy Family. It is mentioned as far back as 1382, and many stories exist to explain the scars or marks on Mary’s cheeks, said to have been made by a sword by invading Hussites.

Donated by: Paul & Geri Miller

Laura James Born and bred in Brooklyn, New York, Laura James is a self-taught painter of Antiguan heritage. Work-ing as a professional artist and illustrator for almost twenty years, Ms. James is best known for her illus-trations in the Book of the Gospels lectionary published in 2000 by LTP on behalf of the Roman Catho-lic Church. An award winning edition of the four gospels, it includes 34 paintings rendered in the Ethio-pian Christian Art style which over the years Ms. James has made her own. The book is used worldwide by numerous Christian denominations and her religious art is at the forefront of the movement toward a more inclusive representation of Biblical figures.

Donated by: the Fleming Family

From the tilma of Juan Diego, 1531 AD Two accounts, published in the 1640’s tell how Juan Diego, walking from his village in 1531, saw a vi-sion of a girl about 16, surrounded by light. She asked that a church be built on that site, and he recog-nized her as the Virgin Mary. He told his story to the Archbishop, who told him to return and ask for a sign. The first sign was the healing of Juan’s uncle. Then she told Juan to gather flowers from a barren hilltop. There he found roses, not native to Mexico, and filled his cloak (tilma) with them. When he opened his cloak for the Archbishop, the flowers fell out and the image of the Virgin was miraculously imprinted on the fabric. The icon is at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.

Donated by: Duderstadt family

Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato (1609-1685AD) Sassoferrato's work was held in high regard through to the mid-19th century. His paintings were some-times believed to be contemporary with the School of Raphael. He was born in Sassoferrato in central Italy, and his father was a painter. The two shades of color preferred by the artist were the red and the intense blue which he used to paint very close each other. Sassoferrato gave to his compositions a pleasing air of intimacy, and a certain naiveté, in happy contrast to the melancholy expression too frequently found in the paintings of his time.

Donated by: Georgina & Charles Winters

Corby Eisbacher The artist is a young man who lives in North Carolina with his family. His website includes the follow-ing: “I have worked with all the different painting mediums, but my love is with watercolor. I have de-veloped a glazing technique with watercolor over the years that people sometimes confuse with oil or pastel. Not only is the subject I paint important to me but color is the life I breathe into the painting. As you can see by my art my favorite subject matter is the human figure, especially children, and anything to do with sports. I try to paint when I can during the week but my favorite time is in the evening when my two angels are in bed. I can turn on my Christian contemporary music, grab a brush and get lost in the color. I thank the Lord every day for this gift of art and I thank you for allowing me to share it with you. Enjoy! My life is a living testament that if you surrender your life to God, run to him and don’t look back the Holy Spirit will grow in you. He’ll fill you with more peace and love than you could ever imag-ine and God will begin to use you to Glorify him beyond all belief. ”

Donated by: Duderstadt family

Raphael (1483—1520 AD) Italian Renaissance artist Raphael (1483 – 1520) painted works exemplifying his era’s ideals of beauty and harmony. A child prodigy, he exceeded the talents of the leading painter in his hometown of Urbino, Italy when he was 12. Raphael was noted for his brilliant Vatican stanzas, and the Madonnas he por-trayed with unprecedented human sentiments. He also masterfully utilized depth, perspective, light and shadow, which made his figures appear warm, serene and lifelike. Pope Julius II’s respect for Raphael was so profound that he had planned to make him Cardinal.

Donated by: Paul & Gerri Miller

Donated by: Wayne Bubak

Lighting Our “Mary Wall” would not be nearly as beautiful without the new lighting that illuminates the artwork. This lighting, as well as the new track lighting on the opposite wall, by the Stations of the Cross, were provided by the Bubak family.