Madonna of the Rosary

Abstract

This painted wood sculpture of the Madonna was sculpted in 1714 for the Dominican monastery of San Tommaso in Pavia and only moved to its current location, San Michele in the same city, in 1900. The splendidly extravagant baldachin, in itself a work of sculpture, was made 30 years later. In both cases, the names of the sculptor and of the gilder were recorded, suggesting the high esteem in which both arts were held and the ways in which these are collaborative works. This large and presumably heavy painted wood sculpture seems to have been taken on religious processions, as the baldachin and figure rest on a wooden base, which has square holes for poles, which would be used to carry this elaborate parade float in procession. In 2010, the sculpted Baby Jesus was stolen and was replaced later that year with a new painted wood sculpture of the baby carved by Attilio Balduzzi and gilded by Silvia Mantica (the latter being the conservator who had restored the statue in 2008). Mother and child were "reunited" in a solemn ceremony on Oct. 10, 2010. Unfortunately, several sculptures of the Baby Jesus have been stolen from churches in Lombardy, presumably because they are relatively portable and unfortunately attractive to collectors. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.