The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Universal Mother and Queen of Peace, is the world’s most beloved woman. Every day, for centuries, her name finds its way into the prayers of people everywhere. The blue folds of her mantle have protected soldiers, sailors, young and old against the tribulations of earthly existence and on the journey through life. She is the eternal Mother who intercedes on behalf of her Son, Jesus Christ. As such, She fulfills the basic human need for a mother’s Love, for compassion, for solace, for understanding and reassurance.

The image’s of Mary has appeared for almost two thousand years in countless paintings and sculpture. She is woman of many names and many roles. She is a Queen enthroned in heaven and a modest Mother gazing at her Child, the baby and the crucified martyr. Her glory is reflected in the most monumental are projects, and the most humble.

Our Lady of the Universe pays homage to the contemporary apparition of the Virgin Mary that appeared in 1981 in Medjugorje, in the former Yugoslavia, now Bosnia. The Virgin Mary appeared to a group of children as a beautiful woman wearing a gray dress with a white mantle and veil. She had blue eyes and dark hair and twelve gold stars encircled her head. She held the infant in her arms and was radiant in her beauty. Her followers have made Medjugorje a place of pilgrimage in a hostile war-torn environment. Their devotion, in the midst of the most abject human conditions, is rewarded with internal love and peace and a sense of unity that transcends the evils of battle.

Jacqueline Ripstein has painted an image of the Virgin Mary for all people, for all time. Her beautiful Our Lady of the Universe brings the traditional representations of Mary into the twentieth century, while never sacrificing her ageless spirituality. Using a unique and new invisible technique (patent pending Jacqueline Ripstein) that combines oil with gold for exquisite effects, Jacqueline captures the radiant lighting of the Virgin’s celestial being. The radiance of Mary’s beauty is even more striking when revealed with black light. To gaze upon Our Lady of the Universe is an emotional experience that transcends the merely physical recognition of the most highly revered woman in history. Through her exquisite painting, Jacqueline Ripstein hopes to reflect the feelings of everyone who seeks peace, unity and love, and to inspire an answer to Mary’s call to come to G-d.