Giovanni Cimabue, c. 1240 – 1302, was an Italian painter and designer of mosaics from Florence. He was also known as Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi.
In art, a Madonna is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is from Italian ma donna 'my lady' (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in Christian iconography, divided into many traditional subtypes especially in Eastern Orthodox iconography, often known after the location of a notable icon of the type, such as the Theotokos of Vladimir, Agiosoritissa, Blachernitissa, etc., or descriptive of the depicted posture, as in Hodegetria, Eleusa, etc.
Pope John VII was the bishop of Rome from 1 March 705 to his death. He was an ethnic Greek, one of the Byzantine popes, but had better relations with the Lombards, who ruled much of Italy, than with Emperor Justinian II, who ruled the rest.
The Basilica of Saint Mary Major, or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is one of the four major papal basilicas as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the largest Marian church in Rome, Italy. Santa Maria Maggiore is the first Marian sanctuary in the Western world and the mother of all sanctuaries.
Maestà, the Italian word for "majesty", designates a classification of images of the enthroned Madonna with the child Jesus, the designation generally implying accompaniment by angels, saints, or both. The Maestà is an extension of the "Seat of Wisdom" theme of the seated "Mary Theotokos", "Mary Mother of God", which is a counterpart to the earlier icon of Christ in Majesty, the enthroned Christ that is familiar in Byzantine mosaics. Maria Regina is an art historians' synonym for the iconic image of Mary enthroned, with or without the Child.
The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere ; English: Our Lady in Trastevere) is a titular minor basilica in the Trastevere district of Rome, and one of the oldest churches of Rome. The basic floor plan and wall structure of the church date back to the 340s, and much of the structure to 1140–43. The first sanctuary was built in 221 and 227 by Pope Callixtus I and later completed by Pope Julius I. The church has large areas of important mosaics from the late 13th century by Pietro Cavallini.
Salus Populi Romani is a Catholic title associated with the venerated image of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Rome. This Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Child Jesus holding a Gospel book on a gold ground, now heavily overpainted, is kept in the Borghese (Pauline) Chapel of the Santa Maria Maggiore. Pope Francis has constructed a burial vault near the icon, intended to be his final resting place.
Antonio di Benedetto Aquilo degli Aquili, known as Antoniazzo Romano, was an Italian Early Renaissance painter, the leading figure of the Roman school during the latter part of the 15th century. He "made a speciality of repainting or interpreting older images, or generating new cult images with an archaic flavor", in particular by very often using the gold ground style, which was unusual by this period.
A canonical coronation is a pious institutional act of the pope, duly expressed in a formal decree of a papal bull, in which the pope bestows the pontifical right to impose an ornamental crown, a diadem or an aureole to an image of Christ, Mary or Joseph that is widely venerated in a particular diocese or locality. The act was later regulated to Marian images only, through the De coronatione imaginum B.V. Mariae that was issued on 25 March 1973.
Catholic Marian churches are religious buildings dedicated to the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These churches were built throughout the history of the Catholic Church, and today they can be found on every continent including Antarctica. The history of Marian church architecture tells the unfolding story of the development of Catholic Mariology.
Mary has been one of the major subjects of Western art for centuries. There is an enormous quantity of Marian art in the Catholic Church, covering both devotional subjects such as the Virgin and Child and a range of narrative subjects from the Life of the Virgin, often arranged in cycles. Most medieval painters, and from the Reformation to about 1800 most from Catholic countries, have produced works, including old masters such as Michelangelo and Botticelli.
A Madonna of humility or Virgin of humility is a depiction in art of the Virgin Mary sitting on the ground, or upon a low cushion. She usually holds the Christ Child in her lap, making it one form of the Madonna and Child. The iconography originated in the 14th century, and was most common in that and the following century.
The Nursing Madonna, Virgo Lactans, or Madonna Lactans, is an iconography of the Madonna and Child in which the Virgin Mary is shown breastfeeding the infant Jesus. In Italian it is called the Madonna del Latte. It was a common type in painting until the change in atmosphere after the Council of Trent, in which it was rather discouraged by the church, at least in public contexts, on grounds of propriety.
The Rucellai Madonna is a panel painting representing the Virgin and Child enthroned with Angels by the Sienese painter Duccio di Buoninsegna. The original contract for the work is dated 1285; the painting was probably delivered in 1286. The painting was commissioned by the Laudesi confraternity of Florence to decorate the chapel they maintained in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella. It was transferred to the Galleria degli Uffizi in the 19th century. The Rucellai Madonna is the largest 13th-century panel painting extant.
The Santa Trinita Maestà is a panel painting by the Italian medieval artist Cimabue, dating to c. 1288-1292. Originally painted for the church of Santa Trinita, Florence, where it remained until 1471, it is now in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, Italy. It represents the Madonna enthroned with the Baby Jesus and surrounded by eight angels and, below, four half portraits of prophets.
The Annunciation has been one of the most frequent subjects of Christian art. Depictions of the Annunciation go back to early Christianity, with the Priscilla catacomb in Rome including the oldest known fresco of the Annunciation, dating to the 4th century.
Madonna di Sant'Alessio(Madonna of St. Alexis; Madonna of Intercession) is an icon, probably of Byzantine origin, of the Blessed Virgin now in the Basilica of the Saints Bonifacio and Alexis on the Aventine Hill in Rome, Italy.
The Panagia Agiosoritissa or Hagiosoritissa is the name for a type of Marian icon, showing Mary without child, slightly from the side with both hands raised in prayer. The type is known in Latin as Maria Advocata.
Italo-Byzantine is a style term in art history, mostly used for medieval paintings produced in Italy under heavy influence from Byzantine art. It initially covers religious paintings copying or imitating the standard Byzantine icon types, but painted by artists without a training in Byzantine techniques. These are versions of Byzantine icons, most of the Madonna and Child, but also of other subjects; essentially they introduced the relatively small portable painting with a frame to Western Europe. Very often they are on a gold ground. It was the dominant style in Italian painting until the end of the 13th century, when Cimabue and Giotto began to take Italian, or at least Florentine, painting into new territory. But the style continued until the 15th century and beyond in some areas and contexts.
The Madonna del Rosario is an icon of Mary commonly dated to the sixth century or earlier. It is an early version of a type of icon known as the Agiosoritissa or the Maria Advocata, in which Mary is depicted without the Christ Child, with both hands raised. The work, which has been kept in the Church of the Madonna del Rosario since 1931, is thought to be the oldest image of Mary in Rome, Italy. Medieval tradition held that the icon was painted by Luke the Evangelist.
