The Virgin of the Lilies – William Bouguereau
I’m not big on the veneration of icons, even though I’m aware of this rich tradition within the Orthodox Church. I don’t think my lack of interest in icons is a by-product of having an Protestant Evangelical background, which is sometimes characterised by an erroneous conflation of veneration and worship in the context of icons and relics.
Nope, I simply looked at icons and couldn’t discern their appeal.
However, this weekend I came across an image painted by William-Adolphe Bouguereau 1899 entitled: The Virgin of the Lilies
Here it is and do click the image if you wish to enlarge:
This image hit me in a surprising, unexpected, and powerful way.
It’s worth noting of course that this painting is not an icon painted by an iconographer. William Bouguereau was a French academic painter whose realistic genre paintings and mythological themes were modern interpretations of Classical subjects with a heavy emphasis on the female human form.
It was in noticing a Bouguereau image (The Madonna of the Roses) on the side of Stacy’s blog earlier, that gave me the courage to post about this one.
It’s easy to criticise the above painting for its Western bent; however, I must confess that’s part of the appeal for me, in that it gives me something familiar to take hold of. Moreover, having such a high Christology, coupled with the Catholic elevation of Mary, the Holy Family slipped out of my grasp briefly.
They felt so lofty and mystical as to be unapproachable.
This painting beautifully encapsulates the humanness of the Christ Child and His Mother and gave me a great sense of relief in remembrance that they were flesh and blood mired in this world as I am. I’m also awed by the vulnerability aspect.
This truly is an image I could venerate and pray in the presence of.
Tags: Christianity
May 29th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
I love the hands and eyes, and how Bouguereau makes his subjects appear so — beyond real — so realistic, but also surreal. It reminds me of how faith and reason go together.
Check these out: http://www.acceptingabundance.com/christ-the-savior-artwork-by-william-adolphe-bouguereau/
Thanks for posting this. I love his work. Someday maybe I can see some of them in real life, although I really appreciate the high quality digital images.
May 29th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Thanks Stacy.
I thought I was alone in loving his work until I noticed the image at the side of your blog
May 30th, 2012 at 8:02 am
I love icons, the Orthodox kind. I don’t venerate them or anything, but I love the colours, the primitive quality, the visual link/connection back in time to the early church. For some reason reformation style art always depresses me, don’t know why.
May 30th, 2012 at 9:48 am
The ‘fleur-de-lis’ symbolisim in the painting of the hands is interesting, physically it’s not easy to form the fingers in the ‘fleur-de-lis’ position.
Love this image, thanks for posting webmaster.
May 30th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
Thanks Goy!