Madonna of Paczółtowice – 3 sizes– Catholic Art Print – Catholic Gift – Polish Art

Madonna of PaczółtowiceAnonymous ArtistThis beautiful, unique painting of Our Lady was done around 1465 in Krakow, Poland, and placed in a small, timber church in the nearby town of Paczółtowice. Originally it was the central piece of a triptych placed on the altar. Closed during the weekdays, with the Annunciation on the outside, the triptych was ceremonially opened on Sundays and Holy Days, showing this picture flanked on either side by Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Barbara, both holy virgins highly revered in the Middle Ages. Before it took the name of the town, this picture was known as Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. She is portrayed as the Woman of the Apocalypse from Saint John's Book of Revelation: a radiant aureole surrounds her with a crescent moon under her feet. Behind her is a thicket bush, and if you look close, you'll see those red spots are not just counterpoint colors, berries or turning leaves, but rather they are flames. It is a burning bush, alluding to