May is traditionally devoted to the Virgin Mary. My selection of six contemporary portraits from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection in celebration of this Marian month all depict a solitary Mother of Christ, the contemplative Virgin Mary of the Gospels who saw the events of her blessed son's birth and "pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19, KJV)." French Limoges Enamel Designer Camille Faure offers us a shimmering image of Mary in profile with brilliant blue and gold accents. She appears in the soft pastel shades of a Quattrocento Madonna fresco in an oil painting by Italian Artist Antonio Cervai. In a surrealistic portrait by American Painter Herb Pfeffer from Palm Springs, California, the Virgin passes before our eyes (left) looking like a heroine from a Hollywood sword-and-sandal biblical epic. An unknown German artist reconfigures the Mother of Christ with downcast eyes in the elongated form and flowing garment of an Art Deco portrait by Polish-born Painter Tamara Lempicka. Czech Graphic Artist Jan Hladik borrows his Marian image from 17th Century French Artist Georges de la Tour's painting of The Newborn. Art refers to art once again in New York-based Painter Michael D. Koch's study in oil of a bas relief of the Virgin in prayer. This new cycle of contemplative Marian portraits can now be viewed in the image gallery of The Magnificat page of The Coming of Christ gallery in The Life of Christ section. (John Kohan)