Our Lady of Prompt Succor
Our Lady of Prompt Succor - June 2022 - Acrylic on canvas - (24’x48’) Jacob Zumo
As a sacred artist from Louisiana, I pray constantly that my work will impact the viewer, moving him or her to greater devotion. Whether by way of a setting, race, devotion, or narrative, there is always an initial movement in my work toward these targets. Given that our year often pivots around hurricane season, many Louisiana Christians turn to Our Lady of Prompt Succor in intercessory prayer for protection.
This specific piece allowed me to lean into the story of Our Lady in my own life and prayer, both through the intense process of trying to be worthy to create an image of her but also in the awareness of the responsibility of presenting her on a canvas in a particular community to inflame deeper love of the Catholic faith. There are many ways to modernize sacred art, and I believe true beauty shines best through true representation of figure.
When starting the process of creating a sacred image, I first pray through the devotion for inspiration. Then, on the sketchpad, I make rough compositional studies of layout, composition, and color. From there I translate it to a canvas and choose my subjects—posing, dressing, and lighting them according to the needs of the devotion.
In depicting narrative devotions, the scene itself can be just as important as the subject. In this case there were many factors to work with - Our Lady of Prompt Succor has brought about not just one but many miracles, and she has answered countless prayers. I also had to consider that I would be painting it live, in front of a crowd, in just three hours.
In the final painting, Mary is in the foreground on the shore of the Louisiana swamp. In the background, a convent is surrounded, but not affected by, a large fire which casts lurid reflections across the swamp and onto the shore and cypress tree knees near the feet of Our Lady and Jesus. The dramatic play of light accentuates the power of flame to direct the eye to new places around the painting.
At the top right of the canvas I renewed the contrast to guide the viewer's eye gently back to Our Lady and Jesus, whose serenity parallels that of the moon on a cloudy night. Her presence speaks calm to the swamp and to the storm at bay. These details imbue the painting with the tender power of those relationships so dear to the people of South Louisiana: a mother’s care for a child, a loving God's goodness to his people, Our Lady of Prompt Succor’s solicitude for those in need, and Jesus’ passion to save a broken culture.
My hope is that such composition and such beauty can allow the many stories of Our Lady of Prompt Succor can renew wonder about the story depicted in the painting and inspire fresh devotion to Jesus.
Our Lady of Prompt Succor serves as the cover art for the Fall 2023 issue of the Joie de Vivre print journal, and this essay originally appeared therein. To order this issue or subscribe to the journal, click the Subscribe button at the top of this page.
Jacob Zumo is a Baton Rouge-based sacred artist, and a Society Artist of The St. Louis IX Art Society. To see more of Jacob’s work or to purchase this image, visit https://shop.jzumo.com/.
