Maria Advocata (Madonna del Rosario)

[1] It is an early version of a type of icon known as the Agiosoritissa or the Maria Advocata, in which Mary is depicted without the Christ Child, with both hands raised.

[2]The linden wood on the painting ground is badly eaten away, but the portrait as a whole, especially the face, the gold nimbus and one hand, are still clearly visible.

How Mary intercedes is made clear by the artist painting the right hand raised to the shoulder beyond the edge of the picture to the border of the icon.

[12] The latter is said to have been one of the oldest images of Christ, and not created by human hands (Greek: ἀχειροποίητον, acheiropoieton), now in the Sancta Sanctorum chapel of the Lateran Palace.

According to Hans Belting's research, it is likely that the Maria Advocata of San Sisto played the leading role during the August procession of the Assumption since the 10th century; she was also the first icon of Mary in Rome, and was expressly declared to be an image of Luke around 1100.

These copies of the Advocata were particularly sought after because they also took part in the special veneration of the oldest icon of Mary and were also carried in processions in Rome and Latium.

[2] It was taken by a certain Tempulo, one of three brothers who came from Constantinople and lived in exile in Rome, and placed in the neighbouring small oratory of Sant'Agata in Turri on the old Via Appia (opposite the Baths of Caracalla).

Through the rich endowments of Pope Sergius III, the original church and related Benedictine convent were rebuilt and consecrated to the Virgin Mary in about 900 as Santa Maria in Tempulo (Monasterium Tempuli).

[2][8] The rights and property of the monastery were transferred to the new establishment,[15] and the famous icon was carried personally by Domingo de Guzmán (Saint Dominic), who led the sisters in a procession to their new home.

In 1931 the Dominicans moved again, to the Monastero di Santa Maria del Rosario, a convent attached to the church of that name on Monte Mario.

[4] The nuns brought the icon of Mary with them, and it remains in their care—in a small church atop Rome's steepest hill, in relative obscurity.

[4] From the part of the church which is open to the general public, through an iron grating or grille, viewers can initially only see a copy of the icon decorated with votive offerings (on the back of the original).