Did Stand the Queen

The composition incorporates the concept of the mystical union of Christ and the Church. Christ sits on a throne as the King of the World and High Priest, dressed in the robes of the Byzantine emperors and holding an omphorium and patriarch’s crosier. The Virgin Mary is depicted as the Queen of Heaven. Standing to the left of the throne, she wears imperial robes and wields a sceptre in her right hand. John the Baptist stands to the left in a hair shirt and cape, holding an unrolled scroll inscribed with the words: “The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him” (John 3:29).