Enthrone Virgin and a Corpus Miracle

Metropolitan Museum of Art - Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350 exhibit, New York, NY

l.: Enthroned Virgin (Terracotta) by navtive Siena artist Goro Di Gregorio circa 1300-1334. Terracotta.

r.: Head of Christ (Fragment of a Crucifix) by Lando Di Pietro circa 1280-1340.
Woodcarving. The Head of Christ testifies to a miracle. Originally part of a life-sized crucifix, it survived an Allied aerial bombing raid outside Siena, Italy on 23 January, 1944 that struck the late 18th century Church of the Osservanza where it was displayed. Adding to the miracle, two pieces of an inscribed parchment by the artist also survived. They were discovered inside the remains of the badly damaged corpus that invited “the Virgin and numerous saints to join him in his supplication for mercy.”