Processional banner of plague

Niccolò di Liberatore's Processional Banner of Plague belongs to the devotional objects produced during or after epidemic outbreaks to invoke divine protection and record community vows of gratitude for deliverance. Such banners, carried in processions, typically showed the Virgin of Mercy protecting the faithful under her mantle, or saints invoked specifically against plague such as Sebastian and Roch. Niccolò di Liberatore (l'Alunno), working in Foligno in the second half of the fifteenth century, produced many devotional objects for Umbrian communities whose experiences of plague made such protective imagery particularly urgent.

Executed with skilled technique and attention to careful observation, the work reveals Niccolò di Liberatore's characteristic approach to composition and surface. The treatment of light and the careful modulation of color create visual richness within a unified pictorial scheme.