Sacra conversazione
Sacra conversazione, as iconographical theme, originated in the West, being frequent in Renaissance Italy. The earliest known representations have been dating from the first quarter of the 15th. century. The theme presents, against an architectural background, sometimes a landscape, the Virgin with Child surrounded by a variable number of saints.
One of the theme sources may be found in the votive portraits. From the very beginning, such portraits were present in Christian iconography, where the patron, accompanied by the intercessor saints, faced an enthroned person: the Virgin with Child or Jesus.
As an independent subject, “Sacra conversazione” is not included in the Eastern canon. In Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art could be encountered representations of The Virgin with Child surrounded by saints, replacing the angels of the more common scheme, but the image lacks the architectural or natural background, characteristic to Western art.
Sacra conversazione, as iconographical theme, originated in the West, being frequent in Renaissance Italy. The earliest known representations have been dating from the first quarter of the 15th. century. The theme presents, against an architectural background, sometimes a landscape, the Virgin with Child surrounded by a variable number of saints.
One of the theme sources may be found in the votive portraits. From the very beginning, such portraits were present in Christian iconography, where the patron, accompanied by the intercessor saints, faced an enthroned person: the Virgin with Child or Jesus.
As an independent subject, “Sacra conversazione” is not included in the Eastern canon. In Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art could be encountered representations of The Virgin with Child surrounded by saints, replacing the angels of the more common scheme, but the image lacks the architectural or natural background, characteristic to Western art.
