Our Lady of Lourdes restored for St. Walburgers

Our lady of Lourdes restored for the shrine of St. Walburger in Preston

Artists throughout the ages have striven to depict the beauty of the Blessed Virgin.

Historically she is often portrayed with a delicate chin, large eyes and small mouth. In iconography Her large eyes suggest contemplation of God, and the small mouth, the few words Mary spoke. Heaven itself has helped us to know the face of Mary; she has appeared in apparitions throughout the world, but most famously in the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the tilma of Juan Diego in Mexico. It is possibly the nearest we have to a portrait of Our Lady.

A closer look at the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes

The statue of Our lady of Lourdes at St. Walburgers is prominently placed within the church. She is of similar height and historical age to all the other statues at St. Walburgers, yet unlike the other statues, she was carved by a ' J. Reubens of Bruges', and not Munich.

As Canon singled out the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes for restoration, I felt a ripple of inner trepidation. Her face at a distance did not seem to fit with that of St. Bernadette's vision of a young lady in her 20s.

Closer inspection of the statue revealed an aged Mary, with heavy features. Her hair drooped like a small moustache which peeked from beneath her veil. Her clasped hands lacked femininity.

I mused if the person who commissioned her had asked the wood carver for a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows, then changed his mind to that of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Back at the Workshop

Having restored many statues of Our lady of Lourdes, I studied the statues' face for some time before resolving to give her a face lift. It meant re- carving parts of the face back at our workshop, to reduce the heavy features. David and I observed that the statue was carved from yellow pine, a difficult wood to sculpt due to the large grain and sap areas.

Original face left: Our Lady's re-carved face to the right.

A word of caution to novice restorers, it is of great importance to have a knowledge of anatomy in order to successfully remodel the face of any statue in this manner.! Re-modelling existing features has its limitations; the width of the jaw could not be reduced further or the neck would have appeared too elongated. One has to carefully consider how each plane of the face transitions into another for a smooth and seamless appearance.

Our Lady's face after being re-carved to reduce the heavy features.

Re-decorating the statue

I gilded the rosary as Saint Bernadette described it - with a golden chain. One of my sons carefully gilded the roses at Our Lady's feet- as per the apparition. Formerly, the vivid paintwork had exaggerated the chunky look of the figure. To counteract this, I added delicate details to help with feminising the statues appearance. This decoration was also more- fitting historically for a statue of this period. The further intention being to help the statue fit snugly with the decorative schemes already existing within the church.

If you would like to view the finished statue in person, why not pay St. Walburges a visit? Details below! https://www.visitpreston.com/visit/things-to-do-in-preston/walksandtours/guidedwalkstours/st-walburges-church-guided-tours/

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