The Madonna del Rosario is an icon of Mary commonly dated to the sixth century or earlier. 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. The work, which has been kept in the Church of the Madonna del Rosario since 1931, is thought to be the oldest image of Mary in Rome, Italy. Medieval tradition held that the icon was painted by Luke the Evangelist.
The painting is known by various names. It is often simply called Maria Advocata, since it was long the only example of the type in Rome. It has also been referred to according to the various churches where it has resided, as Madonna in Tempulo, Madonna di San Sisto, Madonna di Santi Domenico e Sisto, or, as it is called here, Madonna del Rosario.
Relation to Luke the Evangelist
Because the Gospel of Luke contains material about Mary not found in any of the other gospels, the tradition arose early in Christian history that Mary had been among the eyewitnesses that Luke claimed in his prologue to have consulted in composing his narrative. The close connection between Luke and Mary was reinforced by the tradition that Luke was an artist, perhaps the first to compose an icon of Mary.
By 1100, the Madonna del Rosario was being referred to as Luke's handiwork. By 1200, it was one of only two icons with claims to Lukan authorship, along with Salus Populi Romani, another early icon housed in Santa Maria Maggiore.
Iconography
The icon was painted using the ancient encaustic technique and had a gold background from the start. The technique is Egyptian, and the Madonna closely resembles the Fayum mummy portraits of Upper Egypt. However, the style of the painting, with the oval face and large eyes, has been called "distinctively Syrian".
During the restoration and examination from 12 February to 28 June 1960, the result of the expert examination was recorded:
The 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. In later times, Mary's interceding hands were covered with gold sheets to protect them from kisses, and a gold cross was added to the shoulder.
The icon belongs to the iconographic type of Hagiosoritissa (Greek: Ἁγιοσορίτισσα, from hagios = "holy" and soros = "shrine"), i.e. the "Icon at the Holy Shrine" in the former Chalkoprateia church in Constantinople. The more common name is Maria Advocata (= "Mary as intercessor", from Greek Paraklesis). In the choice of motif for Marian icons, the representations of Mary without child (Advocata) preceded the images of Mary with child (e.g. Hodegetria).
Here Mary is depicted as the Blessed Mother (without child) in a sideways half-length figure, eyes directed at the viewer, both hands raised in supplication. The head is covered by the shawl (maphorion) with the star on her brow; this spica ("ear of corn") was considered a sign of virginity, derived from the brightest star of the same name in the constellation Virgo. The old jewellery on the dress and wrists can still be seen. The golden nimbus is set off from the rest of the gold background by slight hallmarking. How Maria 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. With her hands raised and with a slight turn of her body, Mary turns to Jesus Christ, so to speak, out of the picture in order to pass on to him the entrusted requests.
In this context it is significant that the icon of the Madonna di San Sisto (= Maria Advocata) was carried along in the annual procession on the night before the Assumption (15 August); the icon of Mary and the icon of Christ from the Lateran, which was also carried along, are said to have bowed to each other. The icon of Christ is said to have been one of the oldest images of Christ, and an image not created by human hands (Greek: ἀχειροποίητον, acheiropoieton), which is in the Sancta Sanctorum chapel of the Lateran Palace. The route of this procession initially led from the Lateran via the Via Sacra and Sant'Adriano at the Roman Forum to Santa Maria Maggiore, later also stopping in front of Santa Francesca Romana and San Sisto Vecchio. The model for this Roman procession were the pictorial processions with icons of Christ and the Mother of God that had been taking place in Constantinople since the 6th century, in which the icons assumed a quasi-personal life and acted as individuals.