My next new Advent image from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is a reverse glass painting of the Madonna and Child by a Romanian artist, identified only by the last name of Nicula, now on view in the Romanian Glass Icons page of the Schools of Sacred Art section. This traditional folk art technique of reverse glass painting requires forethought and a steady hand, since the artist begins by painting the finishing details on the reverse side of a piece of glass, working backwards in painted layers to what would normally be the first broadly applied background colors. This image follows the Eastern Orthodox iconographic prototype of The Virgin Who Shows the Way and presents the Virgin Mary, holding the Christ Child in her left arm, while she points toward him with her right hand, indicating that her son is the one we must follow. (John Kohan)