Our Lady of Guadalupe discovery

I have been doing much research on Our Lady of Guadalupe. I discovered a very interesting connection between the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Luke. As you know, St. Luke was a physician and artist. Many paintings of our Blessed Mother have been attributed to him. I am going to show a comparison between Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Expectation in India. Our Lady of Expectation was brought to India by St. Thomas, and it was his breastplate. It is an oil painting on wood and resides in the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle near Madras, India. It was said to have been painted by St.Luke.
There is some question on IF St.Luke actually knew the Blessed Mother personally, even though he wrote extensively about here in the Gospel of St.Luke. After much research, I did find that he was personally acquainted with Mary from the book, "The City of God" by the Venerable Mary of Agreda. The book has been widely acclaimed and has an imprimatur. So, I did make a positive connection. The particular image, Our Lady of Expectation is a side profile of Mary with the infant Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the background. If you compare the face to that of Our Lady of Guadalupe it is the same face. You can see the same chin, mouth, nose, eyes are identical. Also, the dark hair parted in the middle.
Another characteristic about Our Lady of Guadalupe I find interesting is that the original is a brown tone, or sepia image. Many historians say this is an example of indigenous skin color, but I disagree. The coloring is very similar to that of the Shroud of Turin and is a seared, non pigment image. Both of the images were on cloth and lacked skin color. As for the color on Our Lady of Guadalupe on the dress, I have no comments. I do know that a crown had been added by artists at a later date and it eventually faded away. I can see in the rays around her it appears that paint might have been added at some point in time because it appears to be flaking off. As a retoucher, I know how some artists would love to add paint and color to anything. So I reserve my judgement on those issues because I have not physically seen Our Lady of Guadalupe in person for an evaluation.
I hope you find this as interesting as I have, and in my opinion it adds more credibility to the divine intervention and miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Also, this thread will only let me open one image so I will upload the comparison image. Copyright @Kathy Falls Studio

 

I never tire of contemplating the beautiful image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is so compelling. She is so beautiful. I have read some books on her appearance. It is so utterly miraculous and can be read like an icon. Every part of the image sends a message to the Aztec people. And to us. I especially love to think about her words to St Juan Diego.

 

You are right about the resemblance to the Indian portrait. Feature by feature the resemblance is there!

 

Thank you Katfalls for the information about the picture of Blessed Mother from India, and it's comparison with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

What I find very endearing about the picture allegedly painted by Saint Luke. When you see the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we are told it portrays her just two weeks before the birth of baby Jesus. And of course we know she was just about sixteen years old at that time.

On the other hand when Saint Luke would have known her, she would have been in her late forties at least. The picture of Blessed Mother allegedly painted by Saint Luke would have been an image as he knew her, by then in her middle age. And when you look at the image, it does show a woman older even though she resembles the more youthful likeness as it appears on the Guadalupe image. IMHO

 

Excellent observation! I hadn't thought of that.

 

AND, the title of the Lady from India is "Our Lady of Expectation". And Our Lady of Guadalupe is expecting. Coincidence?