A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance.
Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent in different forms in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The practice of veiling is especially associated with women and sacred objects, though in some cultures, it is men, rather than women, who are expected to wear a veil. Besides its enduring religious significance, veiling continues to play a role in some modern secular contexts, such as wedding customs.
Wikipedia / Images by Mus52 and by Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada
Medieval Catholic women of all classes wore veils, though the style and material varied by social rank. Married women and widows typically wore veils to symbolize chastity and devotion to family or faith. Unmarried young women sometimes wore simpler, lighter veils or ribbons, often white to signify purity, while older women chose heavier, darker veils.
Veils have been depicted in European art across centuries, often symbolizing mystery, purity, or devotion.
“The Virgin Annunciate” by Antonello da Messina (c. 1476)
The Virgin Annunciate is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina, housed in the Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy. Probably painted in Sicily in 1476, it shows Mary interrupted at her reading by the Angel of the Annunciation. – Wikipedia
“The Veiled Virgin” (sculpture) by Giovanni Strazza (c. 1850s)
The Veiled Virgin is a Carrara marble statue carved in Rome by Italian sculptor Giovanni Strazza (1818–1875) depicting the bust of a veiled Virgin Mary. The exact date of the statue’s completion is unknown, but it was probably in the early 1850s. The veil gives the appearance of being translucent, but is carved of marble. – Wikipedia
“Madonna of Loreto” by Raphael (c. 1511)
The Madonna of Loreto is an oil on panel painting by the Italian High Renaissance painter Raphael, executed c. 1511.
The painting is tender and intimate. The Child, just awakened, plays a game with the Madonna’s veil[1], with a melancholy Saint Joseph looking on from the shadows.
The use of veil in Renaissance paintings, from the Meditations on the Life of Christ, symbolizes the manner in which the Madonna wrapped the Child in the veil from her head at the Nativity and, prophetically, again at the Crucifixion.
Saint Joseph’s melancholy nature in this picture may signal his proclivity for prophecy and the coming events for the Child. Saint Joseph seemed to be an after-thought, x-rays of the painting show that Saint Joseph was painted over a window previously over the Madonna’s shoulder.[2]
[1] In our in-depth research, there are many paintings of Mary using her veil to entertain Baby Jesus. This is due, in part, because Fisher-Price wasn’t founded until 1930, during the Great Depression
[2] Things haven’t changed, Joe.
The Veil of Veronica
The Veil of Veronica, or Sudarium (Latin for sweat-cloth), also known as the Vernicle and often called simply the Veronica, is a Christian relic consisting of a piece of cloth said to bear an image of the Holy Face of Jesus produced by other than human means (an acheiropoieton, “made without hand”). Various existing images have been claimed to be the original relic, as well as early copies of it; representations of it are also known as vernicles.
The story of the image’s origin is related to the sixth Station of the Cross, wherein Saint Veronica, encountering Jesus along the Via Dolorosa to Calvary, wipes the blood and sweat from his face with her veil. According to some versions, St. Veronica later traveled to Rome to present the cloth to the Roman Emperor Tiberius. The veil has been said to quench thirst, cure blindness, and even raise the dead.
Elder G offers some interesting AI generations of “The Veil of Veronica:”
From the Sacred to the Profane: The Veil of Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa I was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Galicia and Lodomeria, the Austrian Netherlands, and Parma. – Wikipedia
Maria Theresa before and after 16 children.
Not a nice person, so we don’t feet too bad making fun of her enormous caboose. “She was probably the most anti-Jewish monarch of her time, having inherited the traditional prejudices of her ancestors and acquired new ones.” – Wikipedia. We won’t share some of her horrible writings on the subject.
Modern edge-detection and cartography technology allows us to analyze the caboose in question.
