“Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5) is the theme of the Jubilee that the pope has proclaimed, making the year 2025 a Holy Year. Now “the first sign of hope should be the desire for peace in our world, which once more finds itself immersed in the tragedy of war…. May the Jubilee remind us that those who are peacemakers will be called children of God (Mt 5:9).”1 I invite you to meditate on this grace of the Jubilee with Pinturicchio.
Bernardino di Betti di Biagio (1454–1513), nicknamed Pinturicchio (“little painter”) because of his small stature, was the chief master painter in Perugia in Umbria (the land of Saint Francis of Assisi). From 1481 on, just as the Italian Renaissance was about to come most admirably into full flower, Pinturicchio became famous, alongside Perugino (1446–1523), Botticelli (1445–1510), and Ghirlandaio (1448–1494), by covering the Sistine Chapel with his frescos; later Michelangelo (1475–1564) and Raphael (1483–1520) completed the unsurpassable splendor of that showcase of masterpieces.
The Madonna of Peace was painted in 1489–1490. This work displays a unique beauty, at the same time exalted in its sublimity and tender in its realism; you might even say that it is overwhelming, since the painter manages to share with us an immediate, mystical empathy with the Virgin Mary and her Child.
Mary is an adolescent with an exquisitely beautiful face that is idealized, yet nevertheless touching, because it delicately expresses the depth of her soul and the chastity of her immaculate heart. The depiction of the Child Jesus repeats and charmingly adapts the major features of the Pantocrator Christs that Pinturicchio could admire at length in the apse of the ancient Roman basilicas. Standing on Mary’s knees, with his feet placed on a precious cushion that underscores his royal dignity, the Child, like a Roman emperor, wears a bluish-grey toga edged with gold over a dalmatic made of unbleached silk and enhanced with gold and purple embroidering, and set with rare pearls at the shoulder.
He is the Prince of Peace, the eschatological figure of Peace prophesied by Isaiah (9:5), the one who will love us so much that he will give to each of us the power to imitate him, so that by acting as instruments of peace we might receive the blessing of being called the children of God (Mt 5:9). Indeed, we will be children of God then, in fact and in truth.
The fine golden hair of the Prince of Peace frames the delightful little face of a dear, loving child. His eyes, the windows of his soul, reflect the contemplation in which he revels in the Father’s benevolent plan, which will be accomplished in him for us men and for our salvation. The slightly pouting mouth—its seriousness is brightened by the restrained hint of a smile—speaks to us about the unthinkable requirements of the baptism that he knows that he must undergo, and at the same time, like a promise, about the perfect joy he will share with us when he has conquered the powers of evil and death and gives peace to us all, his Peace.
In his left hand he holds the Globe of Creation, through which divine grace shines now because it has been placed beneath the sign of the cross. With his right hand he gives to the visible and invisible universe what is customarily called the Benedictio latina (the Latin blessing). His two folded fingers symbolize his two natures, human and divine, and the other three outstretched fingers represent the Trinity which is at work in him.
Beneath the translucent light that bathes the whole work and brings it harmoniously to life, without ever giving a glimpse of itself, everything here is calm, all is serene, all is peace, all is grace. To allow us to contemplate the gentle Virgin Mary when she presents the Prince of Peace to the world, Pinturicchio’s genius was able to create this moment in which all is harmony and time seems to be suspended—a moment of eternity, so to speak—when with one voice all Creation sings with the choir of angels:
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among men:
He loves them so much that he gave them his Son!
_______________________
1 See Francis, Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the year 2025, no. 8.
Pierre-Marie Dumont
Our Lady of Peace (detail, c. 1488–1490), Bernardino Pinturicchio (1454–1513), Pinacoteca Comunale, San Severino Marche, Italy. © akg-images / De Agostini Picture Lib. / A. De Gregorio.
Please click here to see the entire picture
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Queen of Peace
Le January 1, 2025
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“Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5) is the theme of the Jubilee that the pope has proclaimed, making the year 2025 a Holy Year. Now “the first sign of hope should be the desire for peace in our world, which once more finds itself immersed in the tragedy of war…. May the Jubilee remind us that those who are peacemakers will be called children of God (Mt 5:9).”1 I invite you to meditate on this grace of the Jubilee with Pinturicchio.
Bernardino di Betti di Biagio (1454–1513), nicknamed Pinturicchio (“little painter”) because of his small stature, was the chief master painter in Perugia in Umbria (the land of Saint Francis of Assisi). From 1481 on, just as the Italian Renaissance was about to come most admirably into full flower, Pinturicchio became famous, alongside Perugino (1446–1523), Botticelli (1445–1510), and Ghirlandaio (1448–1494), by covering the Sistine Chapel with his frescos; later Michelangelo (1475–1564) and Raphael (1483–1520) completed the unsurpassable splendor of that showcase of masterpieces.
The Madonna of Peace was painted in 1489–1490. This work displays a unique beauty, at the same time exalted in its sublimity and tender in its realism; you might even say that it is overwhelming, since the painter manages to share with us an immediate, mystical empathy with the Virgin Mary and her Child.
Mary is an adolescent with an exquisitely beautiful face that is idealized, yet nevertheless touching, because it delicately expresses the depth of her soul and the chastity of her immaculate heart. The depiction of the Child Jesus repeats and charmingly adapts the major features of the Pantocrator Christs that Pinturicchio could admire at length in the apse of the ancient Roman basilicas. Standing on Mary’s knees, with his feet placed on a precious cushion that underscores his royal dignity, the Child, like a Roman emperor, wears a bluish-grey toga edged with gold over a dalmatic made of unbleached silk and enhanced with gold and purple embroidering, and set with rare pearls at the shoulder.
He is the Prince of Peace, the eschatological figure of Peace prophesied by Isaiah (9:5), the one who will love us so much that he will give to each of us the power to imitate him, so that by acting as instruments of peace we might receive the blessing of being called the children of God (Mt 5:9). Indeed, we will be children of God then, in fact and in truth.
The fine golden hair of the Prince of Peace frames the delightful little face of a dear, loving child. His eyes, the windows of his soul, reflect the contemplation in which he revels in the Father’s benevolent plan, which will be accomplished in him for us men and for our salvation. The slightly pouting mouth—its seriousness is brightened by the restrained hint of a smile—speaks to us about the unthinkable requirements of the baptism that he knows that he must undergo, and at the same time, like a promise, about the perfect joy he will share with us when he has conquered the powers of evil and death and gives peace to us all, his Peace.
In his left hand he holds the Globe of Creation, through which divine grace shines now because it has been placed beneath the sign of the cross. With his right hand he gives to the visible and invisible universe what is customarily called the Benedictio latina (the Latin blessing). His two folded fingers symbolize his two natures, human and divine, and the other three outstretched fingers represent the Trinity which is at work in him.
Beneath the translucent light that bathes the whole work and brings it harmoniously to life, without ever giving a glimpse of itself, everything here is calm, all is serene, all is peace, all is grace. To allow us to contemplate the gentle Virgin Mary when she presents the Prince of Peace to the world, Pinturicchio’s genius was able to create this moment in which all is harmony and time seems to be suspended—a moment of eternity, so to speak—when with one voice all Creation sings with the choir of angels:
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among men:
He loves them so much that he gave them his Son!
_______________________
1 See Francis, Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the year 2025, no. 8.
Pierre-Marie Dumont
Our Lady of Peace (detail, c. 1488–1490), Bernardino Pinturicchio (1454–1513), Pinacoteca Comunale, San Severino Marche, Italy. © akg-images / De Agostini Picture Lib. / A. De Gregorio.
Please click here to see the entire picture
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