Suffering With Joy

Sabbath Moments – Madonna with Child

March 20, 2010

Sabbath moments are the moments we rest in God, when we take time to just Be with God rather than Do.  Sabbath moments are those times when we live in the moment and find the holy in the ordinary. I invite you to share your Sabbath moment(s) at Colleen’s blog Thoughts on Grace on Saturdays. If you don’t have a blog, share about it in a comment! Hope you will join us!

I found this striking image of the Madonna with Child Clothed with Sunlight several years ago at 1st-art-gallery.com. You can order paintings of Old Masters from them.  Last evening I was so upset over the trampling of our Constitution and the frenzy to pass what is to me a “Death bill” that I knew I had to find peace.  Because sacred art is so calming to me, I decided to find out more about this image.  Above all others, it has continued to come to my mind over the years and I always hoped I could discover it’s origin.  Well, I hit pay dirt.

Madonna with Child Clothed in Sunlight, detail, c. 1450-60, tempera on panel, parish church in Przydonica, Poland

An artist, unknown to us today, painted it in Poland.  This image is not the complete painting but it is the only part I could find online.  The church where it hangs is located in the Tarnow diocese in the small town of Przydonica, Poland. Unfortunately I can’t read, write, or speak Polish so I am at a loss to learn more about it although I have done a lot of searching today.

I did find this much: Tarnow, an area of southern Poland with ancient and unusual architecture, is a tourist destination and deservedly so because of the beauty of the countryside and the many shrines there. Our Lady is much loved by the Polish people and you can find many images of her all over Poland.

My father, who passed away last September, grew up in a small Polish-German town in the Minnesota lake country.  They had two Catholic churches in town: St. Stanislaus for the Poles and St. Henry for the Germans.  Although of Bavarian descent, he loved everything Polish – literature, art, music, history and especially Pope John Paul II.  I know he would have loved to have seen this painting.

My Sabbath Moment is to gaze on this work of the love of Mary and her Child and appreciate that God has given so many artists over the years the grace to create such beautiful images.

Please send all your Polish friends and acquaintances a link to this post and ask them to send it on to other Polish people so they can perhaps give me more information about the painting, an interpretation of it, the church it is in, and any other relevant facts.  I would like to make this image of the Madonna much better known.

Tags: art, Blessed Virgin

2 Comments to Sabbath Moments – Madonna with Child

1. 

   What a beautiful image! Original and such intricate design. Thanks for joining in Sabbath Moments! God bless!
Colleen on March 20th, 2010
2. 

   Wow, I’ve never seen that one before – beautiful!
Nod on March 21st, 2010

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