(photo courtesy of the Getty Museum)

The J. Paul Getty Museum presents “Visualizing the Virgin Mary,” featuring vibrant, illuminated manuscripts depicting stories of the Virgin Mary that attest to her role as one of the most adored figures in the Christian tradition.

Mostly drawn from the Getty’s collection, the exhibition goes on view at the Getty Center from Oct. 11 through Jan. 8, 2023.

“This exhibition explores the enduring devotion to, and fascination with, the Virgin Mary in the Catholic faith since the birth of Christianity and up,” said Timothy Potts, Maria HummerTuttle and Robert Tuttle Director of the Getty Museum. “Images of Mary, hailed as the Queen of Angels, form some of the most sacred and artistically powerful achievements of medieval art, venerated in icons and the pages of manuscripts.”

Presented in both Spanish and English, the exhibition highlights the Virgin Mary’s life, acts of miracles and the interpretation of her image in the Middle Ages. The exhibition also explores the legacy of Marian imagery in the Americas, especially the Virgin of Guadalupe. “Visualizing the Virgin Mary” is the first Getty exhibition to focus on the Virgin Mary since the exhibition “The Queen of the Angels” over two decades ago.

“This exhibition will show how fewer than a dozen references to the Virgin in the Bible grew into a myriad of stories and images that celebrate Mary as a personal intercessor, a nursing mother and a heavenly queen,” said Maeve O’Donnell-Morales, curator of the exhibition and former intern in the Department of Manuscripts at the Getty Museum. “The exhibition will also emphasize the role of artistic creativity in the development of Mary’s image and draws attention to the enduring visual traditions of her likeness from the Middle Ages to today.”

“Visualizing the Virgin Mary” is curated by Maeve O’Donnell Morales, a former graduate intern at the Getty Museum, with assistance from Elizabeth Morrison, senior curator of manuscripts at the Getty Museum.

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