This small but provocative book by its diminutive yet unusual author -- an art-enthusiast who just happened to be a cloistered nun, and who achieved a well-deserved notoriety by leaving a hermitic convent to teach her artistic sensibility to the rest of us -- has a narrow but fascinating thesis: icons, the religious paintings, nee portals, into the spiritual realm, were nearly all destroyed during the early centuries of the ancient Church. One particular void in this ancient, artistic past were representations of Mary, the mother of Jesus; most extant works from posterity portray saints or popes. Sister Wendy, through her scholarship, tracked down eight surviving early [5th century +] icons of Mary, most in Rome, but a few in Sinai and Ukraine, and traveled to see them all. Part travelogue, part history, part art criticism, this little tome is wildly esoteric and a lot of fun! ( )

Sister Wendy's writing has much of the infectious enthusiasm of her television programmes. The style is very conversational, and the book is beautifully laid out with wonderful pictures. It's not an academic exercise, but rather a spiritual encounter with the icons informed by all the art history background.

The first few chapters explore the earliest Christian art in general, and then the focus narrows to the Virgin and Child Icons. For each of the eight icons, there is a discussion of its history and also of its content.

A nice book on the subject: not a learned treatise, but an interesting and spiritual exploration of it. ( )

A lovely reflection on certain early icons - a good read. ( )