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20-512: The Fonte Gaia is a monumental fountain located in the Piazza del Campo in the center of Siena , Italy. The first fountain in the Piazza del Campo was completed in 1342, after hydraulic construction had led water to the site. Underground pipes brought water to the site from 25 kilometers away. Legend holds that the fountain was met with much joy, thus it was given the name Gaia or joyous. Others suggest

40-551: A naval victory. In Venice it became the custom in the Renaissance for the higher officials, beginning with the Doge , to commission (at their personal expense) an ex-voto painting in the form of a portrait of themselves with religious figures, usually the Virgin or saints, in thanks for achieving their office. For lower officials only their coat of arms might represent the official. The painting

60-604: A sloping site near the meeting point of the three hillside communities that coalesced to form Siena: the Castellare, the San Martino, and the Camollia. Siena may have had earlier Etruscan settlements, but it was not a considerable Roman settlement, and the campo does not lie on the site of a Roman forum , as is sometimes suggested. The plaza was paved in 1349 in fishbone-patterned red brick with eight lines of travertine , which divide

80-690: Is a tradition of votive paintings, typically depicting a dangerous incident which the offeror survived. The votive paintings of Mexico are paralleled in other countries. In Italy, where more than 15,000 ex-voto paintings are thought to survive from before 1600, these began to appear in the 1490s, probably modelled on the small predella panels below altarpieces . These are a form of folk art , in Mexico typically painted cheaply on tin plates salvaged from packaging. Other examples may be large and grand paintings, such as Titian 's Jacopo Pesaro being presented by Pope Alexander VI to Saint Peter , given in thanks for

100-523: The Ospedale di St. Maria della Scala in Piazza Duomo . The original sculptures of goddesses featured on the 1419 fountain were replaced in 1866 by free copies by Tito Sarrocchi , who omitted Jacopo della Quercia's two nude statues of Rhea Silvia and Acca Larentia that the nineteenth-century city fathers found too pagan or too nude. When they had been set up in 1419, Jacopo della Quercia's nude figures were

120-459: The Virtues. 43°19′07″N 11°19′53″E  /  43.31861°N 11.33139°E  / 43.31861; 11.33139 Piazza del Campo The twice-a-year horse-race, Palio di Siena , is held around the edges of the piazza. The piazza is also the finish location of the annual road cycling race Strade Bianche . The open site was a marketplace established before the thirteenth century on

140-671: The church of Notre-Dame de la Garde in Marseille , France , the site of a major local pilgrimage, the ex-votos include paintings, plaques, model ships, war medals and even football shirts given by players and supporters of Olympique de Marseille , the local team. The magnificent Lod mosaic is thought to be an ex-voto expressing gratitude for rescue from a shipwreck. In the long Votive Chapel of Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal , there are fixed on iron grilles hundreds of crutches, canes and braces left behind by pilgrims who claimed to have received

160-452: The first two female nudes, who were neither Eve nor a repentant saint, to stand in a public place since Antiquity. 43°19′06″N 11°19′53″E  /  43.31833°N 11.33139°E  / 43.31833; 11.33139 Ex voto An ex-voto is a votive offering to a saint or a divinity , given in fulfillment of a vow (hence the Latin term, short for ex voto suscepto , "from

180-445: The front two columns, traditionally believed to represent Rea Silvia and Acca Larentia, in celebration of Siena’s supposed links to ancient Rome. These were not added in the reconstruction but can be viewed along with the original panels at a museum at Santa Maria della Scala , the old hospital overlooking the Piazza del Duomo . The long section of the fountain is adorned at the centre with a Madonna and Child, surrounded by allegories of

200-574: The greatest beauty for the city." The unity of these Late Gothic houses is effected in part by the uniformity of the bricks of which their walls are built: brick-making was a monopoly of the commune, which saw to it that standards were maintained. At the foot of the Palazzo Pubblico's wall is the late Gothic Chapel of the Virgin built as an ex voto by the Sienese, after the terrible Black Death of 1348 had ended. The Fonte Gaia ("Joyous Fountain")

220-588: The many tourists, the present fountain is in the shape of a rectangular basin that is adorned on three sides with many bas-reliefs featuring the Madonna surrounded by the Classical and the Christian Virtues, emblematic of Good Government under the patronage of the Madonna. The white marble Fonte Gaia was originally designed and built by Jacopo della Quercia , whose bas-reliefs from the basin's sides are conserved in

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240-448: The original marble panels were replaced by copies sculpted by Tito Sarrocchi , under the supervision of architect Giuseppe Partini . The side reliefs depict episodes from Genesis: The Creation of Adam and The Flight from the Garden of Eden. The wolves spouting water, representing the mother-wolf of Remus and Romulus, form part of the reconstructed fountain. Two nude female figures once adorned

260-496: The piazza into nine sections, radiating from the mouth of the gavinone (the central water drain) in front of the Palazzo Pubblico . The number of divisions is held to be symbolic of the rule of The Nine ( Noveschi ) who laid out the campo and governed Siena at the height of its mediaeval splendour between 1292-1355. The campo was and remains, the focal point of public life in the city. Eleven narrow, shaded streets radiate from

280-618: The plazza into the city. The palazzi signorili that line the square were housing of the families of those who dominated governance of the city at the time, such as the Sansedoni , the Piccolomini , and the Saracini. Their homes have unified rooflines, deliberately built to demonstrate a sense of decorum in contrast to earlier high tower houses — seen as emblems of communal strife — such as may still be seen not far from Siena at San Gimignano . In

300-461: The received help. As such they may include texts explaining a miracle attributed to the helper, or symbols such as a painted or modeled reproduction of a miraculously healed body part, or a directly related item such as a crutch given by a person formerly lame. There are places where a very old tradition of depositing ex-votos existed, such as Abydos in ancient Egypt. Especially in the Latin world, there

320-420: The statutes of Siena, civic and architectural decorum was ordered: "...it responds to the beauty of the city of Siena and to the satisfaction of almost all people of the same city that any edifices that are to be made anew anywhere along the public thoroughfares... proceed in line with the existent buildings and one building not stand out beyond another, but they shall be disposed and arranged equally so as to be of

340-526: The term Gaia refers to the Latin term for "bride", and that the fountain was dedicated to the bride of God and patron of Siena, the Virgin Mary. The fountains, plates, and statues conflate Roman matrons' cardinal virtues, with a central relief of the Madonna and Child , curiously framed by stories of Genesis. In 1419, the fountain had the present decorative frame constructed by Jacopo della Quercia . In 1858,

360-424: The vow made") or in gratitude or devotion. The term is usually restricted to Christian examples. Ex-votos are placed in a church or chapel where the worshiper seeks grace or wishes to give thanks. The destinations of pilgrimages often include shrines decorated with ex-votos. Ex-votos can take a wide variety of forms. They are not only intended for the invocated, but also as a testimony to later visitors of

380-472: Was built in 1419 as an endpoint of the system of conduits bringing water to the city's centre. It replaced an earlier fountain that had been completed about 1342 when construction of the water conduits was completed. Under the direction of the Committee of Nine, many miles of tunnels were constructed to bring water in aqueducts to fountains and thence to drain to the surrounding fields. A center of attraction for

400-598: Was hung in the public building where they worked or presided. An example is the Barbarigo Altarpiece , a votive portrait of Doge Agostino Barbarigo with the Virgin and Child, two saints and assorted angels, by Giovanni Bellini (1488). This was made for the Doge's Palace but is now in San Pietro Martire, Murano . The Ex-Voto de 1662 is a painting by Philippe de Champaigne (now Louvre ), showing two nuns, one of whom recovered from serious illness. In

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