$ 109.00 USD
This colorful and detailed artwork, by Filippino Lippi, shows the Blessed Virgin Mary, with angels, appearing to the holy Cistercian abbot and mystic, St. Bernard of Clairvaux. St. Bernard looks up from his writing desk outside his monastery, as if startled by the sudden apparition of the Blessed Mother. The mystic writer is surrounded by books. A scroll hung from the rocks indicates St. Bernard's asceticism with a quote from the Roman stoic Epictetus, which reads: " Sustine et abstine", translated to, "Persevere and abstain". Barely visible behind the Saint, the Devil sits biting his chains, symbolizing the Virgin's power over the bonds of sin.
