Awhile ago, I finished reading the book "Missing Mary" by Miss Charlene Spretnak. It details Mother Mary's demotion in the Catholic Church from Queen of Heaven to a special housewife. Miss Spretnak made some very interesting observations about statues of Mother Mary.
A long time ago, Mother Mary was always depicted wearing a red gown, a blue mantle, and a golden crown. (Does that colour scheme sound familiar to anyone?) But in time, the colour red came to be associated with ladies of ill repute rather than with power and glory, so Her gown was changed to white in most depictions. After Vatican II, Her bold blue mantle was changed to baby blue, and Her crown disappeared altogether. (Many statues of Mother Mary were even attacked; people chiseled off the crowns.)
All the more reason to look for Marian statues and art that date before Vatican II--as far before Vatican II as is possible.
This brings me to something I wanted to share with everyone: a statue of Mother Mary that came into my possession recently. My grandmother had two, and got tired of them, so she gave them to my mother, who gave them to me and my sister.
Mother and child are both wearing solar colours in this statue (red and yellow) so I suspect that it pre-dates Vatican II. While Mother Mary does not have a crown, her gown is edged in gold, and her mantle is edged in white and gold flowers, which seems like an indication of gentle royalty to me.
The really interesting thing, though, is that the Holy Child is wearing a pink veil. When does one ever see a masculine Holy Child wearing a veil? This has got to be an image of the Mother and Daughter!
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