Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/File:Sassoferrato - Jungfrun i bön.jpg

Mary praying

Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes. Voting period ends on 19 Dec 2014 at 00:59:46 (UTC)

Original – While the Protestants stopped painting religious paintings and went over to paint still life's; the countries not affected by the Reformation's iconoclasm, went on painting depictions of Mary. The Catholics believe that they can turn to Mary and ask her to bring their prayers to Heaven.
The prayer Holy Mary, pray for us is still part of the Catholic mass, a several centuries old prayer, that was prayed hundreds and hundreds of years among the walls of all old churches. ^{Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. ... Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis...}

Reason

Good scan, much used. Mary in prayer, c. 1654. Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato (1609 – 1685) was an Italian Baroque painter. The picture is now in the National Gallery, London. There was a revival of interest in the late 20th century in Italian Baroque painting. Traditionally Mary wears blue and red. Blue was considered since the Middle Ages the color of spirituality, calm and contemplation, cite: and was considered extremely beautiful and working good on human psyche, it was praised a lot. Also blue pigment was extremely expensive, ... Blue pigment was almost as expensive as gold, sometimes more than gold. It had a beautiful name: ultramarine.
The Virgin in prayer from the National Gallery;Citation:

Sassoferrato places emphasis on the softly modelled draperies, the white veil and brilliant blue cloak, painted in ultramarine. The face remains largely in shadow, the eyes downcast, and this has the effect of highlighting the hands joined in prayer.

Articles in which this image appears

Blessed Virgin Mary; Fatima Prayers; Roman Catholic prayer; Veneration of Mary in Roman Catholicism; Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato, Madonna (art)

FP category for this image

Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Artwork/Paintings or Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Culture, entertainment, and lifestyle/Religion and mythology

Creator

Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato

• Support as nominator – Hafspajen (talk) 00:59, 6 December 2014 (UTC)
• Support - Absolutely gorgeous painting, will look good on the main page. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 10:03, 6 December 2014 (UTC)
• Support - Fine painting with great contrasts, and the photo quality is top rate. Jusdafax 10:27, 6 December 2014 (UTC)
• Support - Outstanding. Atsme☯^Consult 16:19, 6 December 2014 (UTC)
• Support as others. Yann (talk) 22:31, 6 December 2014 (UTC)
• Support ///EuroCarGT 22:59, 6 December 2014 (UTC)
• Support It's actually astonishing how anyone could paint such an image. It's perfection. I wonder whether the slight focus on the robes hinted at more of a connection to the material world than the spiritual world. CorinneSD (talk) 20:28, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

• ^{Very smart comment. Baroque is actually considered not as 100% spiritual as the Middle Ages or even the Renaissance. Rather a mix of both - but it's not worse for that. Hafspajen (talk) 20:41, 7 December 2014 (UTC)}

• Support : Amazing image Bellus Delphina ^talk 10:42, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
• Support Wonderful image! chsh (talk) 20141209160110 — Preceding undated comment added 16:01, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
• Support --Le temps de prier --The Herald : here I am 14:25, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Promoted File:Sassoferrato - Jungfrun i bön.jpg --Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 01:03, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

• Added it to "Religion and mythology", because there is no article about the painting. Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 01:03, 19 December 2014 (UTC)