Museo “Madonna del Parto”
Art lovers detour to the village of Monterchi, about 15km (9 miles) south of Sansepolcro, for one reason: to see Piero’s “Madonna del Parto” (“Parto” meaning birth). The work is almost unique in Italian art in that it depicts the Virgin Mary heavily pregnant, one eyelid dropping and a hand on her belly. She’s revealed to us by two angels who hold back the flaps of a tent, as if we’re catching her in a private moment. It was painted sometime after 1459 (dating Piero is notoriously tricky), for a church in a cemetery where, it’s been suggested, the artist’s mother may be buried, making the fresco her son’s tribute to her. The painting has long been popular with pregnant women, who still travel from afar to pay homage to the image of the uncomfortably pregnant Madonna and pray for an easy birth (pregnant women get free admission to the museum). If you are driving from Arezzo to Sansepolcro to see the Pieros, it’s easy to add a stop in Monterchi to the itinerary—it’s right on the way, just off S78.
Art lovers detour to the village of Monterchi, about 15km (9 miles) south of Sansepolcro, for one reason: to see Piero’s “Madonna del Parto” (“Parto” meaning birth). The work is almost unique in Italian art in that it depicts the Virgin Mary heavily pregnant, one eyelid dropping and a hand on her belly. She’s revealed to us by two angels who hold back the flaps of a tent, as if we’re catching her in a private moment. It was painted sometime after 1459 (dating Piero is notoriously tricky), for a church in a cemetery where, it’s been suggested, the artist’s mother may be buried, making the fresco her son’s tribute to her. The painting has long been popular with pregnant women, who still travel from afar to pay homage to the image of the uncomfortably pregnant Madonna and pray for an easy birth (pregnant women get free admission to the museum). If you are driving from Arezzo to Sansepolcro to see the Pieros, it’s easy to add a stop in Monterchi to the itinerary—it’s right on the way, just off S78.
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