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Circle of Sassoferrato<break strength="x-strong"/> Madonna in prayer, 17th century<break strength="x-strong"/> Oil on canvas, 89 x 70 centimeters<break strength="x-strong"/> <p>The oil painting with the Madonna in prayer, previously attributed to Sassoferrato and long preserved at the Casamari Abbey Museum, has been visible again in the Abbey of Vàlvisciòlo since <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">2014</say-as>.</p> <p>The subject is exquisitely devotional, created in a Catholic context for the moment of "private prayer". It combines the image of the Adoration of the Child, in which Mary is portrayed with her hands clasped before her Son, with that of the Annunciation – or rather of the Annunciata – where the Ancilla Domini appears in prayer and the presence of the Archangel Gabriel is only suggested.</p> <p>The unknown author of our painting – probably a painter of the Roman school of the second half of the seventeenth century – certainly knew the Madonna praying veiled in white, which was very popular between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries thanks to the beautiful versions made by Giovan Battista Salvi known as Sassoferrato (<say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1609</say-as>-<say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1685</say-as>) and the numerous “translations” engraved by etchers and burinists.</p> <p>The Virgin of Vàlvisciòlo, depicted half-length, appears with her head slightly inclined to the left, covered by a white veil. She stands out against a dark background that appears as a metaphysical, spaceless and timeless dimension. An intense light strikes her face and highlights her hands clasped in prayer. Her lowered gaze is both an emblem of concentration and humility: it expresses the acceptance of the one who becomes an instrument of God's will, an indispensable means for his Revelation. It is the “model and image of the church” that welcomes the disciple in prayer and celebrates God’s intervention in history for the benefit of all humanity.</p>