Madonna di Senigallia

The Madonna di Senigallia is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Piero della Francesca, finished around 1474.

It was noticed for the first time in 1822 in the church of the Observant Franciscan convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie just outside Senigallia (Marche), whence the current name.

[1] Senigallia was wrested from Sigismondo Malatesta by Federico Montefeltro: both men were patrons of Piero.

The 1990s restoration showed the high quality of Piero della Francesca's treatment of light,[3] as well as the influence of Flemish masters on it, both in its oil on panel medium and in details such as the basket with linen gauze, the coral, and the fabric covering the Madonna's head.

The linen in the basket is instead an allusion to her purity, while the case for hosts in the shelf and the necklace and pendant of coral worn by the infant Jesus both hint to the Eucharist sacrifice.