The Rosary
Based on an Antique Holy Card

This beautiful, ornate print was done as a holy card by Louis Turgis, one of the great holy card makers of mid-19th Century Paris. He pulled out all the stops on this one, using all that was possible with the technology of the day. Starting with his engraving, he added the new process of lithography color to provide an image of great intricacy and precise, nuanced coloration, all in a holy card less than 3x5 inches. The results must have been stunning to contemporary Catholics!

Note all the details! It was the Victorian aesthetic to have so much stuff in it, like their parlors crowded with furniture, art, knick knacks, and lush draperies. It gives us a rich and engaging montage to ponder and explore. There is a scapular, a miraculous medal, a book of the Litany of Loreto, a lily representing purity and the resurrection, a spindle for domestic work and motherhood.

The Immaculate Heart is at the center of it all, surrounded by its golden radiance and a wreath of roses. The roses, of course, are what the rosary is about; saying our rosary is like offering a bouquet of spiritual roses to Our Lady. Note also at the base of it is the crushed serpent that Mary has defeated for us. Surrounding everything is the Rosary itself, a tool which can beautifully structure, or frame, our prayer life.

The words in the gold aura around the Immaculate Heart mean, The heart of Mary loves us as she loved Jesus and as Jesus loved her.

** IMPORTANT ** There is about an inch-and-a-third of white space around the picture, so the image is smaller than the paper.

- Acid-free paper
- Archival pigments, rated to last for generations.
- Cardboard backer
- Above story of the art
- Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag.

Thanks for your interest!
Sue & John

"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 image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson - Classic Catholic Art.