New! The Blessed Damozel - John Byam Liston Shaw - Beautiful Catholic Art

There's something about John Byam Liston Shaw and the other Pre-Raphaelites that we find irresistible, especially when they're painting Catholic subjects. Beautiful, idyllic, and somewhat unreal, often romantically unburdened of the shadows of life.

Shaw shows this part of Heaven as a place where beautiful young women play music to the beautiful Mother Mary. Well, eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, and so what then, since the mind of man cannot conceive of what heaven would actually be, that Shaw uses the symbols of earthly peace and beauty to signify Heaven? What else can we possibly do as artists?

This particular painting, "The Blessed Damozel", is based on the Dante Gabriel Rossetti poem of that same name. In that poem, inspired by Poe's "The Raven," a man mourns his lost love. However, Dante's sister Christina wrote something of a rebuttal poem, in which the deceased beloved expresses her joy at being in heaven. In this painting, the Blessed Damozel is shown as Mary, and the mourned love is presumably one of the blessed damozels of the heavenly throg around Mary. She waits in bliss as her earthly love grieves on. (With thanks to the commentary of George P. Landow at The Victorian Web.)

For us then, this is a lovely metaphor for heaven as we hope to find it, a place of peace, beauty, and love, with Jesus and Mary at the center, radiating their love to all. In comparison, our pains, even our deepest griefs, are contextualized as St Paul said in Romans 8:18, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us." Painted in 1895. Oil on canvas. Private collection.

** IMPORTANT ** THE IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER! There is a blank border around the image. Approximately 0.5" wide for 5x7, 1.3" for 8.5x11, 1.6" for 11x14, and 1.75" for 13x17 and 16x20. For the two poster sizes, 18x24 and 24x36, we use 0.5" borders. We do this because the ratio of the rectangle of the art almost never matches the rectangle of the paper, and if it did happen to match one size, it would not match the others. Most fine art printers do this because otherwise they’d have to crop the art or warp it to make it fit the paper. The border looks good. It gives the picture a faux matted appearance.

There is almost always a little more border either on the left-right sides, or the top-bottom, depending on whether the ratio of the art is wider or taller than the paper.

We make Archival Quality fine art prints:

– Acid-free paper

– Archival pigments

– Cardboard backer for sizes 11x14 and less.

– Above story of the art

– Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal-clear bag.

– Rated to last 200+ years without fading if kept dry and out of the direct sun.

Thanks for your interest!

+JMJ+

Sue & John

Lincoln, Nebraska

You might also enjoy original Catholic Art and Jewelry by me, Sue Kouma Johnson, here on Etsy at www.Etsy.com/shop/TreeOfHeaven

Also, check out our Catholic Quote shop, where we are pairing authentic quotes from Saints with Art: www.Etsy.com/shop/CatholicQuote

“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 any image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson – Classic Catholic Art.