Pala della Peste

Guido Reni painted this altarpiece between 1631 and 1632 as an ex voto, an offering of thanks after the great plague epidemic that struck Bologna in 1630 had begun to subside. Its arrangement follows the traditional layout of altarpieces: in the upper section the Virgin and Child are shown in glory, and below them stand the city's patron saints, who plead on its behalf. The Child blesses with his right hand and holds a flowering branch in his left, while cherubs scatter flowers, hold rosaries and scapulars, and crown the Virgin with a wreath of red and white roses. Mary carries some attributes of the Immaculate Conception, but instead of a crescent moon she stands on an inverted rainbow, a sign of the peace that the end of the plague brings. Below, under an ominous grey sky, the towers of Bologna rise; outside the walls, undertakers carry bodies for burial while people lament. The picture shows the soft, earthy palette Reni adopted in those years and remains in the Pinacoteca of Bologna.

Painter

Guido Reni

Date

1631

Medium

silk, oil paint

Dimensions

382 × 242 cm

Museum

Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Bologna

Genre

religious art

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