After
Guido Reni
, Italian, 1575-1642
Title
The Virgin and Child with the Protector Saints of the City of Bologna (Saints Ignatius of Loyola, Petronius, Procolus, Francis of Assisi, Francis Xavier, Dominic and Florianus)Date17th century
MediumOil on copper
Dimensions
61 x 36 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 1889
Object numberNGI.118
DescriptionBologna suffered a serious outbreak of the plague in 1630 that wiped out a quarter of its population in months. The city’s Senate pledged in desperation their devotion to the Madonna of the Rosary and the city’s patron saints, including the recently canonised Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier. The Senate also commissioned Guido Reni to paint a large votive processional banner to celebrate the abatement of the outbreak that became known as the Pala della Peste (Altarpiece of the Plague).The banner was carried through the city in an annual civic procession that took place annually on 10 December for around 150 years. This copper panel is a small seventeenth-century copy after Reni’s painting. Kneeling from left to right are Saints Petronius, Francis of Assisi, Francis Xavier and Dominic; standing from left to right are Ignatius of Loyola, and Proculus. Absent from this reduced-size copy but present in the original is Saint Florian, perhaps omitted to address issues of crowding in the composition.