La Vierge de Miséricorde

Pietro di Domenico da Montepulciano's La Vierge de Miséricorde (Virgin of Mercy), painted around 1450 and now in the Musée du Petit Palais in Avignon, depicts one of the most powerful Marian images of the medieval and Renaissance period — the Virgin Mary spreading her mantle to shelter a group of the faithful gathered beneath it, protecting them from the arrows of divine wrath or the plague. The Virgin of Mercy (Madonna della Misericordia) was particularly prominent in areas devastated by plague, and the confraternities dedicated to the Virgin of Mercy commissioned such images throughout Central Italy as focal points for collective devotion and civic identity.

Tempera on panel. The Virgin of Mercy stands at large scale with open mantle creating a canopy under which small figures of the faithful huddle. This contrast between gigantic protector and diminutive devotees powerfully conveys supernatural mercy.