Agape

Some historians believe that the love associated with St. Valentine’s Day was the Christian love represented by the saint. This love was called Agape. A painting I made along this theme was the Virgin of the Roses, which I still have in my private collection. Many of the small paintings of the Virgin Mary have long since found their way into private collections of various clients. But this one was perhaps difficult to understand - the eyes of the Virgin painted so narrow and faintly that she looks blind. Certainly she is not seeing the roses she is surrounded by. Also a symbol of love, the roses in this painting denote the sense of smell and touch rather than sight, the virgins’s eyes focused spiritually inward.