Mary Untier of Knots
I was asked to do a commission based on the painting Mary Undoer of Knots, which is a favorite of Pope Francis.
"Mary Untier of Knots or Mary Undoer of Knots is the name of both a Marian devotion and a Baroque painting (German: Wallfahrtsbild or Gnadenbild) which represents that devotion. The painting by Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner, of around 1700, is in the Catholic pilgrimage church of St. Peter am Perlach, otherwise known as the Perlach church, in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. Pope Francis saw the image while in Germany as a student and promoted her veneration in Latin America." - From Wikipedia
This is the historical image I was working from. The size requested by the client dictated a cropping of the painting to focus on Mary's head and hands. I chose a model that had the look of a middle Eastern woman and sewed costuming for accurate references.
At first I tried to alter my references to more closely match the original painting but I quickly grew very frustrated with the anatomical exaggerations. I ended up restarting the painting completely and allowed the realism to be my focus. The photographs of the painting were taken inside because it is currently pouring down rain so they do not have the best lighting but hopefully you can get the idea.
The full painting and Novena Prayer that is said with it.
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Beautiful painting and I love the blog post...I learned so much.
ReplyDeleteI'm in love with this work. I look at it every day for hours! Can I ask who the model is? And how much for a copy?
ReplyDeleteThe Model was my second cousin. The cost of a print would depend on size and if you want it on paper or canvas.
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