"Our Lady of Good Counsel"
by Bartolomé Pérez

Our Lady of Good Counsel is a title of the Virgin Mary since at least the Middle Ages. In Latin it is, Mater boni consilii. It reflects the close role and relationship of Mary to many of the faithful, who turn to her for Christian guidance in their lives. Many Popes and Saints have advocated for this devotion to Mary. In this painting, we see the devoted Saints Francis Xavier and Aloysius Gonzaga (who at the time this was painted, 1680, was Blessed but not yet canonized.) Our Lady of Good Counsel was added to the Litany of Loreto, a chant of many of the Marian titles. Mary's Feast Day under this title is April 26.

Bartolomé Pérez (1634-1693) was a painter from the court of the Spanish king. Although mostly a painter of flowers and portraits, as well as decorations for the palace, he also did numerous religious paintings. This one is loosely based on a Jesuit chapel at the Imperial College in Madrid. The fanciful fruits and flowers, as well as the crowd of cherubim, show the light-hearted charm and beauty that can be found in a formal devotion to Jesus and Mary. They are not the grim overlords sometimes caricatured in our culture; they are our friends, and friendship is a beautiful, light-hearted thing. Oil on copper. 37 x 26 cm.
(source: clevelandmuseum.org)


** IMPORTANT ** THE IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER! There is a white border of about 0.5" inch for 5x7", 1.3" for 8.5x11", or 1.6" for 11x14" pictures. All Approx! Fine art printers do this because the images are almost never the same rectangular ratio of the standard paper sizes. It also gives the prints a finished look, and lets them look good in a frame without a matt.

- Acid-free paper
- Archival pigments, rated to last for generations.
- Cardboard backer
- Above story of the art
- Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag.

Thanks for your interest!

Thanks!
Sue & John

"In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art." ~ St. Pope John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson - CatholicArtAndJewelry.