Madonna col Bambino - Madonna and Child

                          

Madonna and Child

Duccio di Buoninsegna
(Italian, active by 1278–died 1318 Siena)

Date: ca. 1290–1300

Medium: Tempera and gold on wood       
                                   
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/438754

Duccio is the founder of Sienese painting and one of the great figures of Western art. This lyrical work inaugurates the grand tradition in Italian art of envisioning the sacred figures of the Madonna and Child in terms appropriated from real life. The Christ Child gently pushes away the veil of his mother, whose sorrowful expression reflects her foreknowledge of his crucifixion. The beautifully modeled drapery enhances their three-dimensional, physical presence and the parapet connects the fictive, sacred world of the painting with the temporal one of the viewer.
The bottom edge of the original frame is marked by candle burns.

Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore
                     http://www.panoramio.com/photo/82164906
The column
In the middle of the Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore, the square in front of the church, stands a column with a Baroque bronze statue of Mary and child. It was erected in 1614 by pope Paul V in thanksgiving for the remission of the plague. The column was taken from the Basilica of Maxentius at the Roman Forum. The statue was created by the French sculptor Guillaume Berthélot.

The obelisk located at the other side of the church, at the Piazza dell'Esquilino, was erected in 1587 by pope Sixtus V as a beacon for pilgrims. It was originally located near the entrance of theMausoleum of Augustus. A wide staircase behind the obelisk leads to the apse of the church. From here you have a splendid view over the square and its surroundings.

The Piazza and Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, by Giovanni Paolo Pannini
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_Santa_Maria_Maggiore

Salus Populi Romani
Protectress of the Roman People

                                           http://www.digital-images.net/Gallery/Scenic/Rome/Churches/SantaMaria/santamaria.html       T   

The five foot tall by 39” wide icon is painted on a cedar slab, and by legend was painted by St. Luke from life on a table Mary carried which was made by Jesus (although the dating of the icon makes this unlikely). Based on this legend, it was brought to Rome by Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother.
After Pope Gregory carried the icon through Rome in 593, praying to it to end the plague which was devastating entire Roman families, legend says Archangel Michael appeared over the Mausoleum of Hadrian and sheathed his sword.

http://www.digital-images.net/Gallery/Scenic/Rome/Churches/SantaMaria/santamaria.html

The crown inscription reads: Pius XII PM Deiparae Reginae Kal MCMIV A Mar. Pope Pius XII to the Queen Mother of God, Marian Year 1954

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgens_Corona
Fulgens Corona ("Radiant Crown") is an encyclical by Pope Pius XII, given at St. Peter's Rome, on 8 September 1953, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the fifteenth year of his Pontificate. The encyclical proclaims a Marian year for 1954, to commemorate the centenary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. Fulgens Corona is significant as it contained the mariological methodology of Pope Pius XII and his views on limits and challenges of mariology.