The Madonna Del Parto, Monterchi, Tuscany, Italy

The Madonna del Parto, Monterchi, Tuscany

Piero della Francesca’s Madonna del Parto

The Madonna del Parto, or in English, Madonna in Labour, is found in a one painting museum in the village of Monterchi, right on the Tuscany Umbria border. Originally in the cemetery chapel just outside Monterchi, the painting was moved here in the 1990’s. I am a regular visitor to Monterchi and the Madonna del Parto, this painting never fails to impress me.

Monterchi, Tuscany, Umbria

There are other paintings of pregnant Madonnas dating to the medieval period but no others from the Renaissance. The subject material became controversial during the Counter Reformation and the painting was lucky to survive. At one point it was hidden behind a wall and only rediscovered when the wall was demolished.

Close up of the Madonna del Parto

The artist was Piero della Francesca, one of the greatest Renaissance painters, he was overlooked for many years because his works tend to be in small, out of the way places such as Monterchi, Sansepolcro and Urbino in Le Marche. Piero della Francesca was an archetypal Renaissance Man, he was a renowned mathematician and his paintings used his knowledge of mathematics to show off perspective perfectly.

Local legend has it that Monterchi, or Mount Hercules, was where Hercules performed one of his labours. In pagan times, Monterchi was associated with a fertility cult, the Catholic church was very good at absorbing pagan festivals and rituals into its belief system so it likely that the area still had associations with fertility. Piero della Francesca grew up in nearby Sansepolcro but his mother was from Monterchi. These factors must have made it seem an appropriate place for Piero to paint a heavily pregnant Madonna.

The Clock Tower in the Centre of Monterchi

The painting itself is incredibly beautiful and yet very simple. The Madonna (whose face appears in many other Piero della Francesca paintings) is standing in a tent with one hand on her hip, supporting the weight of her pregnancy, while the other rests on her belly. The fingers of the resting hand seem a little strange, I assume that the original position of the painting must have been much higher because viewed from low down the fingers look more “normal”. The flaps of the tent are being drawn back by two angels who are mirror images of each other. The opening of the tent has obvious symbolism for the birth which will shortly occur.

There are several other paintings by Piero della Francesca close to Gorgacce Rentals’ self-catering villas, farmhouses and apartments on the Tuscany Umbria border: Gorgacce Rentals Tuscany Villas Umbria Villas . With a little planning, most of these can be visited in a single day on the Piero della Francesca Trail. You will find paintings by Piero della Francesca in Arezzo, Perugia, Urbino, Sansepolcro, Monterchi, Florence (Uffizzi) and Rimini on the Adriatic coast. See also my blog post on the Tuscan part of the Piero della Francesca Trail.

Tags: Art, Holiday, Holidays, Italian Art, Italy, italy villas, Madonna del Parto, Piero della Francesca, Renaissance Art, Rental, rental villa, Rentals, Tuscany, tuscany villas, Umbria, umbria villas, Villa, Villa Rentals, Villas