Sancta Maria de Pace
\nOil on canvas, mounted on panel
\nProbably Germany, 18th century
\nDimensions: approx. 46 \u00d7 35 cm
\nProvenance: Private collection, southern Germany<\/p>\n
This painting presents an exceptional and rare depiction of the Black Madonna as Sancta Maria de Pace, Mary, Queen of Peace. Both the Madonna and the Christ Child are dark-skinned and display distinctly African features and tightly curled hair. Mary wears a long brown undergarment and a blue-and-gold decorated ermine-lined cloak, white with black tail markings. In her right hand she holds both a sceptre and a branch, symbolising her role as Regina Pacis, Queen of Peace. On her chest hangs a golden oval medallion depicting a papal figure. She stands upon a globe, placed within a boat-shaped basin floating on still water, possibly a lake or sea.
\nThe Christ Child, seated on Mary\u2019s left arm, also wears a brown robe and holds in his left hand a golden orb surmounted by a cross (globus cruciger) and a branch, perhaps an olive branch. This symbol of peace is repeated throughout the composition: similar tendrils appear on both sides and also emerge from the basin in which Mary stands upon the globe. Both figures wear multiple strings of pearls, symbolising purity and spiritual authority, and are crowned. Above Mary\u2019s head, a banner bearing the inscription \u201cS. MARIA DE PACE\u201d is held by two putti.<\/p>\n
The composition follows the Baroque iconography of the Regina Pacis devotion, in which Mary is portrayed as an intercessor for peace: peace with God, with oneself (the conscience), and with one\u2019s neighbour \u2014 a triad that also appears in theological writings and sermons on peace from the 17th and 18th centuries. Along the rim of the basin, in gold letters, is the inscription \u201cPATRONIN DES FRIDEN\u201d (\u201cPatroness of Peace\u201d). Attached to the sceptre in Mary\u2019s right hand is a banner reading \u201cFRIDEN MIT GOT\u201d (\u201cPeace with God\u201d). On either side of the basin stand two poles with banners reading \u201cFRIDEN MIT DEM GEWISSEN\u201d (\u201cPeace with the conscience\u201d, left) and \u201cFRIDEN MIT DEN NECSTEN\u201d (\u201cPeace with one\u2019s neighbour\u201d, right). Below the right banner, a five-pointed star refers to Mary as Stella Maris (Star of the Sea).<\/p>\n
The image is closely related to a series of 17th- and 18th-century engravings from the Carmelite Convent Maria vom Frieden in Cologne, where the devotion to Maria de Pace arose around a Marian statue donated by Maria de\u2019 Medici. This statue, later lost, was venerated as a miracle-working image and invoked as a bringer of peace, particularly during the Thirty Years\u2019 War. Several engravings from this context depict Mary with the Christ Child upon a globe, holding olive branches and accompanied by inscriptions emphasising her title as Queen of Peace.<\/p>\n
In contrast to these prints, which typically depict Mary with European features, this painting, like another known example in the former Augustinian Canons\u2019 monastery at Pfaffen-Schwabenheim, presents a Black Madonna. There is no evidence that the original Cologne statue was dark-skinned, which makes these painted interpretations all the more remarkable. The combination of devotional iconography and African complexion renders this work an extremely rare representation within early modern Marian devotion.<\/p>\n
Of particular note in the context of the Maria de Pace veneration is the presence of Edith Stein (Sr. Teresia Benedicta a Cruce) at the Carmelite Convent Maria vom Frieden in Cologne. She entered this Carmelite community in 1933 and remained there until her departure on 31 December 1938, when she left for the Carmel in Echt (the Netherlands) for reasons of safety. According to sources in the Edith Stein Archive, on her final day in Germany she made a brief visit to the Maria vom Frieden church, by then a parish church, to pray to the \u201cQueen of Peace.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sancta Maria de Pace Oil on canvas, mounted on panel Probably Germany, 18th century Dimensions: approx. 46 \u00d7 35 cm Provenance: Private collection, southern Germany This painting presents an exceptional and rare depiction of the Black Madonna as Sancta Maria de Pace, Mary, Queen of Peace. Both the Madonna and the Christ Child are dark-skinned […]<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":6468,"template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[49,23,51],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6490","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-art-antiques-collection","7":"product_cat-paintings","8":"product_cat-religious-art","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"shipping-taxable","13":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\n