The Immaculate painted by the Eternal Father, Anonymous, XVIII Century, Valencia (Spain)

God painting the Virgin is one of the most beautiful and strange art themes. It is not a frequent topic, but it’s worth knowing it. The pre-existence of the Virgin appears “veiled” on the Bible: «The LORD begot me, the first-born of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago; From of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water; Before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth; While as yet the earth and the fields were not made, nor the first clods of the world. «When he established the heavens I was there, when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep; When he made firm the skies above, when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth; When he set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress his command; Then was I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, Playing before him all the while, playing on the surface of his earth; and I found delight in the sons of men[1].

Also John Paul II said: In the mystery of Christ she is present even «before the creation of the world,» as the one whom the Father «has chosen» as Mother of his Son in the Incarnation. And, what is more, together with the Father, the Son has chosen her, entrusting her eternally to the Spirit of holiness. In an entirely special and exceptional way Mary is united to Christ, and similarly she is eternally loved in this «beloved Son,» this Son who is of one being with the Father, in whom is concentrated all the «glory of grace.» At the same time, she is and remains perfectly open to this «gift from above» (cf. Jas. 1:17)[2].

Finally, there are some beautiful words from Fulton Sheen, talking about this “pre-existing painting” on the mind of God: I’m going to talk to you about our Blessed Mother under three titles: first as a Dream (a dream!); secondly as a Mother; and thirdly as a Spouse. We never talk about that: as a Spouse. First the Blessed Mother as a Dream: she was God’s Dream. It sometimes happens in human love that men love in ideal before they love in fact. Their experiences, readings… become like so many separate pieces of a mosaic, and they frame in their own mind the kind of a woman that they would like. And one day that girl appears, and the man will say: “that’s it, she’s the one”. (…) And now, our Blessed Lord, I mean God, has a Dream, namely the ideal woman. The first Immaculate Conception was in the mind of God. He thought of Her from all eternity. Many of you have seen that famous painting of Whistler: the mother that was in the rocking chair and someone asked Whistler, “How did you ever paint such a beautiful painting of your mother?” And he said, “you know how it is: one tries to make one’s mummy just as nice as one can”. Well, isn’t it reasonable to expect that if we pre-existed our mother we would have made her the perfect woman? Well, God pre-existed His own Mother and therefore He would try to make Her just as perfect as He could. And She, therefore, was a Dream and an ideal in God’s mind. I think She was even thought of as the new Eve. God made a garden (God alone knows how to make a garden beautiful) and then He put the first man and woman into it, and they felt the garden… And then, God thought of another Garden, another Eden, a flesh dirt Paradise which would be his Mother, to be gardened by the Adam New. And this New Paradise of the Incarnation was our Blessed Mother. I believe really and truly that She is the woman whom every man loves an ideal. I think that subconsciously She is the kind of woman that every woman wants to be: the dream of the whole human race. But she was not only a dream: She became now the mother of God the Son, when he became incarnate[3].

Notes

[1] Proverbs 8: 22-31
[2] IOANNES PAULUS PP. II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 8.
[3] Archbishop Fulton Sheen, The Woman I love, 1972 (full text on http://www.fultonsheen.com)