La Madre Dolorosa

By A.Vonn Hartung

A giclee print of the original wood sculpture La Madre Dolorosa by A.Vonn Hartung. La Madre Dolorosa (The Sorrowful Mother) is a high-relief wood carving expressing the agony of Jesus through his mother Mary: the betrayal by Judas, the arrest, torturous scourging, trial, carrying of the cross, crucifixion and death at Golgotha. She contemplates the seven sorrows of her life, represented by the seven swords piercing her heart. Mary holds the crown of thorns and the nails of the cross, gathering the cloak which Pilate draped on her son, mocking him as a king; in the manner of its form and folds she appears to be with child, reliving the Annunciation, Immaculate Conception and the time she carried him in her womb. In the background are the walls of Jerusalem symbolizing the Pharisees’ rejection of his truth, their scorn, expulsion and condemnation. He has been taken down from the cross, but his tomb is still empty. He is, we can imagine, symbolically passing through the Sacred Heart of his Mother.