Queen of Heaven Lady of the Gate, Vilnius, Poster

Mother of Mercy, Queen of Heaven, Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn , Vilnius, Lithuania. The ancient original painting ... that I attempted to restore, repairing the gun shot hole in Mary's sleeve and other damage of the past hundreds of years. Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn (Lithuanian: Aušros Vartų Dievo Motina, Polish: Matka Boża Ostrobramska, Belarusian: Маці Божая Вастрабрамская, Russian: Остробрамская икона Божией Матери) is a prominent Christian icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated by the faithful in the Chapel of the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius, Lithuania. The original painting was 64" x 79". The original artist was unknown from the early 1600s or (uncertain) much earlier. Likely dated at least back to about 1630 or much earlier. One art historian claimed to know its history going back to Crimea of the mid 1300s when the Grand Duke of Lithuania Algirdas took it home from Crimea as a War trophy. The painting was guardian of Vilnius at the Gate of Dawn and in 1702 was believed to have caused heavy iron gates to fall upon and crush two invaders who died instantly at Dawn and injured two others who died from injuries later. The Lithuanian army won the battle the next day on Easter. Reputedly this painting has been miraculous on other occasions. For many years the only visible parts of the original painting were the head and hands as the rest was covered over and protected by a decorative and expensive gold and silver 'riza oklad revetment' that was made for it. So, many images of this painting included this gold and silver 'riza oklad revetment' which hid the original painted colours beneath it. There are now colour photographs of the original painting which was damaged over at least some 395 - perhaps as many as 700 years. This particular image appears to be printed upon paper made to look like lace that was punched with holes. This photo was a black and white print which I took it upon myself to computer colourize giving Mary lifelike colour to her face and hands, traditional Lapis Lazuli blue colour to her outer robe (her Heavenly attribute), traditional rose colour to her garments (her Earthly, attribute) and gold colour to her radiant halo. I previously only gave this image a gold colour and still sell cards with those images. I will have postcards, greeting cards, note cards, T-Shirts, night lamps, etc eventually in all versions. I will also see if I can repair and publish the original painted version as well. Copies of this ancient painting are found at several locations, so I will see if I can get some of those copies as well. I will offer postcards, greeting cards, note cards, T-Shirts, night lamps, and more. So please return to check the latest ones out. I hope you love these. Mark Edward Westerfield 2025. computer colourized 2025 by Mark Edward Westerfield