Description
Madonna di Loreto, also known as the Pilgrims’ Madonna, is the painting Caravaggio made around 1604–1606: the barefoot Virgin, holding her naked Child, appears in a doorway while two elderly pilgrims kneel before her with their staffs. The original, oil on canvas, is 260 cm high and 150 cm wide and still hangs in the Cavalletti Chapel of the church of Sant’Agostino in Rome. One of our painters paints it for you by hand in oils on canvas, in 8 portrait sizes from 40 x 66 to 111 x 188 cm or to your own measurements, and we show you the finished work in a photograph before it ships.
| Title: | Madonna di Loreto |
| Other titles: | Madonna dei Pellegrini · Pilgrims’ Madonna |
| Painter: | Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) |
| Year painted: | c. 1604–1606 |
| Original size: | 260 cm x 150 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Baroque, tenebrism |
| Located at: | Basilica of Sant’Agostino, Cavalletti Chapel, Rome, Italy |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Madonna di Loreto – Caravaggio
What does Madonna di Loreto show?
The tall, narrow canvas looks into the entrance of an old house. On a stone step in the doorway stands Mary, tall and composed, in a red bodice and a dark skirt between violet and blue.
In her arms she holds a sturdy, naked Child, supported in a white cloth. Jesus turns downwards, towards the two visitors, his feet dangling over the threshold. Above Mary’s head there is nothing but a thin gold ring for a halo.
At the lower right kneel the pilgrims, an old man and an old woman. The man, in a brown cloak, presses his hands together in front of his face, and the bare, dusty soles of his feet point straight out at us. Behind him the old woman, her head wrapped in white, joins her hands too.
What is the meeting at the threshold about?
The painting is about a pilgrimage. Two plain people have walked a long road to honour Mary, and at the end of it the Mother of God appears to them as if she had stepped out of her own front door. There are no clouds, no cherubs and no golden sky, only a wall of crumbling brick and a dark entrance.
Wikipedia describes the moment as an ordinary person meeting the divine, which looks just as ordinary. Mary could be any woman emerging from the shadows; only the slim halo above her hair says she is holy.
The title refers to the Marian shrine at Loreto. The critic Robert Hughes wrote that devotion there centred on a miraculous statue of the Virgin, said to come alive when it was venerated. In his view that may be why Mary looks a little stiff beside the lively pilgrims, almost like a statue herself.
Why did the unveiling cause an uproar?
When the painting was unveiled, according to the painter Giovanni Baglione, a rival of Caravaggio, the common people made a great fuss over it. The reasons were plain to see: Mary is barefoot like the pilgrims before her, and the kneeling man’s dusty soles are pushed right to the front.
That directness is what still gives the work its power. Caravaggio dresses an old religious subject in real life: sharp light, deep shadow and people of the kind he passed in the streets of Rome.
Wikipedia adds that the woman who modelled for Mary appears to be the same one as in his Madonna and Child with Saint Anne of 1605 in the Galleria Borghese.
From the same years, around 1604–1606, comes Death of the Virgin, now in the Louvre, which the church it was ordered for turned down as unfit. The full story of our painting is told in the English Wikipedia article.
Where is the original, and who commissioned it?
The original has stayed where it was painted to go: the Cavalletti Chapel in the church of Sant’Agostino in Rome, just north-east of Piazza Navona. The canvas is 260 cm high and 150 cm wide.
Marquis Ermete Cavalletti died on 21 July 1602. In 1603 his heirs commissioned a painting on the theme of the Madonna of Loreto to decorate a family chapel and, as his will instructed, bought the chapel in Sant’Agostino on 4 September 1603.
Madonna di Loreto or another Caravaggio?
Madonna di Loreto is a canvas painting for anyone who wants a Mary without gold or clouds, warm and human, in a scene where everyone can find themselves.
If you like the Virgin and Child among ordinary people, look at The Madonna of the Rosary of 1607: under a great red curtain Mary sits with Jesus. More intimate is the late The Adoration of the Shepherds from Messina, where Mary lies on the straw holding the Child close.
The younger Caravaggio, around 1597, appears in Rest on the Flight into Egypt, where an angel plays the violin while Mary sleeps with Jesus in her lap. This Madonna and the other famous Caravaggio paintings in our range wait on the Caravaggio page.
How does our painter paint Madonna di Loreto?
We only start once you have ordered. The painter first lays a dark, warm ground, then draws Mary on her step, the Child and the two kneeling pilgrims in thinned paint.
He builds the colour in layers, from shadow to light. The brick wall behind gets a rough, cracked surface, the red bodice and white cloth soft folds, the Child’s skin a warm, pale tone.
This Caravaggio reproduction has a surface you can feel under your fingertips and brushwork that raking light brings out. As an oil painting reproduction full of dark tones it stays quiet by day, while under an evening lamp Mary’s face, the Child’s body and the old woman’s white headcloth glow.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 40 x 66 or 45 x 80 cm for a narrow wall beside a door or between windows, 50 x 90 or 60 x 100 cm for a hallway or bedroom, 69 x 115 or 84 x 152 cm for a living or dining room, and 99 x 165 or 111 x 188 cm for a stairwell or a high wall.
We paint Madonna di Loreto in 8 portrait sizes (width x height): 40 x 66, 45 x 80, 50 x 90, 60 x 100, 69 x 115, 84 x 152, 99 x 165 and 111 x 188 cm. The closest to the original is the largest, 111 x 188 cm, which is still 39 cm narrower and 72 cm shorter.
As a painting for the living room it works best at 69 x 115 or 84 x 152 cm, on its own on the wall beside a sofa or sideboard.
Can I order another size or a frame?
Yes. If you need different proportions, we adapt the composition so that the step, Mary’s bare feet and the kneeling pilgrim’s soles stay on the canvas. Send us the width and height you need, and we will come back with a price and a lead time.
You can have the work rolled in a tube, stretched on a stretcher bar or ready framed. Our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing and prepares every painting we make for the journey. You choose the frame in our 3D app, which is there only to pick the moulding; seeing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
The warm browns and the red bodice suit a dark walnut frame or a patinated gold moulding.
When does the painting arrive, and how is it shipped?
We set to work as soon as you confirm your order, and your Madonna di Loreto is ready to travel within 15 to 45 working days. Before it ships we send you a photograph of the finished painting and, if you wish, adjust a detail or two. No customs charges apply anywhere in Slovenia or the wider EU, and our returns policy covers this order just as it covers every other.
Mary with the Child and the pilgrims makes a fine gift for a wedding, a christening or an anniversary, for a friend of faith or for someone just back from a pilgrimage. Not sure which size they would pick? A wall art voucher leaves the choice to them.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original?
In the Cavalletti Chapel of Sant’Agostino in Rome, near Piazza Navona.
Who are the people kneeling before Mary?
Two elderly, barefoot pilgrims, a man and a woman, with staffs in their hands.
Is this a print?
No, you receive a hand-painted copy, made by the painter with brush and oil paints on canvas.
How big is Caravaggio’s original?
It is 260 cm high and 150 cm wide; our largest size is 111 x 188 cm.
Why is Mary barefoot?
Caravaggio paints her as simply as the pilgrims, which stirred people up at the unveiling.
Is it suitable for a bedroom?
Yes, the calm Virgin and Child sits well in a bedroom, a hallway or a prayer corner.
Will you paint it in a size not on your list?
Of course. Send us the width and height, and we reply with a price and a date.
How long does it take to make?
15 to 45 working days; you see the finished Madonna in a photograph before it leaves us.
- Subject: the barefoot Virgin with the naked Child in her arms stands on a threshold, two elderly pilgrims with staffs kneeling before her.
- Original: c. 1604–1606, oil on canvas, 260 x 150 cm, Cavalletti Chapel, Sant’Agostino, Rome.
- Ours: painted by hand in oils on canvas, in 8 portrait sizes (40 x 66 to 111 x 188 cm) or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: Mary’s model seems to be the same woman as in Caravaggio’s Madonna and Child with Saint Anne of 1605.
