May is the month traditionally devoted to the Virgin Mary. During the next four weeks, I'll be presenting images from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection representing four different types of Marian portraiture, beginning with one of the oldest and most revered depictions of the Mother of Christ, known as "The Virgin Who Shows the Way." Mary supports the Christ Child on your lap with her left hand, gesturing toward him with her right hand to show he is the way of salvation. Resembling a man-child, a mature-looking Baby Jesus, typically, raises his right hand in a sign of blessing, while holding a scroll in his left, indentifying him as the Word of God and source of divine wisdom. Beginning, clockwise, from upper left, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Artist Ivan Dashko offers the most traditional rendition of the Virgin Who Shows the Way in the style of Ukrainian icons from the 15th-16th centuries. An unknown Ethiopian artisan has painted a variation on leather where Mary is enthroned with angelic attendants and the Christ Child holds a book in his hand. Using a textile-dying technique with stencils, Japanese Master Printmaker Sadao Watanabe presents Mary with the Baby Jesus in swaddling clothes. Cypriot Iconmaker Charalambos Epaminonda offers an intriguing version of the theme where the Madonna and Child seem to emerge from a cubistic-styled primal forest paradise. (John Kohan)