Weekly Photo Challenge: Face

Location: Lake Bled, Slovenia

While in Lake Bled, Slovenia, our guide took us to the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary located on the island in the middle of the lake. He directed us to the Virgin Mary statue on the altar.

“Look at her face,” he said. “Do you notice something?”

It was Caucasian just like how she is portrayed in Europe. What distinguished it from the others, though, was the artist’s decision to make it look like the Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg empire in the 18th century.

 
Another statue of the Virgin Mary had the same resemblance to the empress.

According to our guide, the practice wasn’t totally isolated during the time of her reign.

It was an artistic license brought to extreme for sure. But can we blame the artist?

Every artist past and present has faced (no pun intended) an unenviable challenge of depicting a subject that he hasn’t seen. The task becomes even more daunting when no physical description exists. As a result, we should look at his art with understanding and an open mind.

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