bottlebugs
Well-Known Member
I've had this statue in my house for about 15 years. It came to me at an odd time. I'm
not Catholic but my wife is. When I brought it home she was pleased that a Catholic
symbol was protecting our home. She was first spotted at an antique market for $150.
I vacillated but then went to the bank to get the cash. When I returned she was gone.
She had been sold while I was at the bank. Two weeks later I encountered her again.
She was sitting on a table at the entrance of a local flea market. I bought her for $50.
The man from whom I bought it said he got it at the antique market but she didn't bring
him the lottery win he had anticipated.
There she is, happy as a lark in the garden. She weighs a ton and if you can see where the
paint has worn thin, she has yellow glass eyes and what appears to be mahogany. I often
wondered what had happened to her hands. As luck would have it, I saw a new movie about
three Irish girls making a pilgrimage to St. Lourdes in France. I was surprised by what I saw.
This face is more modern as the apparition of Lourdes was in the 1800s, but the paint job
matches. My Mary looks more ancient, almost Spanish. She has been repainted many times
as the paint doesn't seem to stay, especially on the face where she would have been touched
many many times. I took another visit to the Black Madonnas of antiquity. They hail from Spain
and Aragon. The big difference is that these statues aren't painted, and the hands hold the
infant Jesus. Lourdes is just down the mountain from Spain and Aragon. Was she repurposed
and repainted to a more modern image? I'll bet the replacement hands fell out.
not Catholic but my wife is. When I brought it home she was pleased that a Catholic
symbol was protecting our home. She was first spotted at an antique market for $150.
I vacillated but then went to the bank to get the cash. When I returned she was gone.
She had been sold while I was at the bank. Two weeks later I encountered her again.
She was sitting on a table at the entrance of a local flea market. I bought her for $50.
The man from whom I bought it said he got it at the antique market but she didn't bring
him the lottery win he had anticipated.
There she is, happy as a lark in the garden. She weighs a ton and if you can see where the
paint has worn thin, she has yellow glass eyes and what appears to be mahogany. I often
wondered what had happened to her hands. As luck would have it, I saw a new movie about
three Irish girls making a pilgrimage to St. Lourdes in France. I was surprised by what I saw.
This face is more modern as the apparition of Lourdes was in the 1800s, but the paint job
matches. My Mary looks more ancient, almost Spanish. She has been repainted many times
as the paint doesn't seem to stay, especially on the face where she would have been touched
many many times. I took another visit to the Black Madonnas of antiquity. They hail from Spain
and Aragon. The big difference is that these statues aren't painted, and the hands hold the
infant Jesus. Lourdes is just down the mountain from Spain and Aragon. Was she repurposed
and repainted to a more modern image? I'll bet the replacement hands fell out.
