It all started with a short note, placed for the first time in the published in 1550, famous work of Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects. In it he wrote, that above the enterance to one of the apartments of Alexander VI (Borgia) there is a fresco by Pinturicchio depicting said pope kneeling in front of Our Lady with Child, whose features are reminiscent of Giulia Farnese – which aroused particular interest of the chronicler. It should come as no surprise, since Giulia was the official papal  mistress, while her image in the role of the Madonna had to arouse curiosity. However, such a fresco is not located in these rooms, there is also no word, that it had ever been there. Was Vasari wrong then? This question haunted art historians for centuries not only due to  the interesting iconography but also because of the fact that no confirmed image of the then Roman beauty Giulia Farnese, who was more than forty years Alexander’s junior remained until the present day.

And then in the year 2017 in the Capitoline Museums two frescoes of great beauty were exhibited – one showing only the face of Our Lady, the other the Child, touched delicately by two pairs of hands. After many decades of research, art historians concluded that these are the fragments of the nonexistent and described by Vasari work. How did they arrive at this conclusion?

More than one hundred years after Pinturicchio had painted   the fresco in the papal apartments, one of the dukes of Gonzaga from Mantua ordered a painter by the name of Pietro Facchetti to create its copy. It must be assumed, that the reason for this was the desire to discredit the Farnese family, which had come to power and numerous distinctions thanks to the aforementioned papal mistress. At that time the fresco was still found on the wall although it was covered by a curtain. Reportedly the painter was to bribe a papal guard (?) and in secret create a copy of the fresco on canvas, depicting in a rather clumsy way, a kneeling, balding dignitary, who delicately touches the foot of the Child, while Our Lady, looking upon him and the Child, equally delicately supports Jesus on her womb. We can have no doubts, that the scene depicted here had to be disliked by subsequent popes, who more and more critically looked upon the actions of their predecessors, showing off their sexual life. This painting is somewhat sacrilegious, especially when we realize, that Giulia only few months after Alexander VI assumed St. Peter’s throne (1492) gave birth to their (most likely) child whom she named Laura. The scene, of purely religious character, under such circumstances acquired a completely different meaning – it was reminiscent of a family picture, it was full of affection shown by parents to a child, while the image of Giulia as Our Lady was simply shocking. If that was not enough, several years later the pope was to become the father of another child – Giovanni. And while a group of children fathered by Alexander prior to his pontificate, did not bother anyone, while their images are still visible today in the papal apartments (Cesare Borgia, Lucretia Borgia), the children of the pope himself were considered something highly inappropriate. Even if they were born they should not be acknowledged. Alexander broke all these rules, although his deeds only in the following decades were deemed as reprehensible. In the XVII century on a wave of greater and greater criticism of the immoral life of the Catholic clergy, the covered until then fresco was cut out of the wall. It was done at the behest of Pope Alexander VII. However it was not destroyed. Whether it was for religious or artistic reasons, the fresco was cut up into (most likely) three parts. Two of these, the aforementioned visage of Our Lady and the figure of the Child were framed and later found themselves in the Chigi collection – family of Pope Alexander VII. For centuries they passed from one pair of hands to the next, to finally end up on the antiquarian market in 2004. Historians connected the copies made by Facchetti with the preserved fragments and in this way they recognized the lost work of Pinturicchio. And what of the third fragment? Unfortunately it was lost, but who knows maybe it will resurface in the future. Fortunately a very similar portrait of the kneeling pope is still found in one of the Borgia apartments and it depicts Alexander VI praying in front of Christ ascending into heaven.

What a paradox – a pope who was accused of nepotism, orgies, murders and even incense, in a magical way renounced reality, allowing himself to be portrayed at the feet of Christ and Our Lady. However, he did not foresee that a time will come when his numerous crimes would to a greater or lesser degree be forgiven, but not the fact that he paraded his family life for everyone to see, which to him – an enthusiast of women and an affectionate father of a group of children – seemed obvious.

  „Madonna delle mani” this common name given to the two fragments of the painting, comes from hands (It. Mani), supporting the Child. Presently one fragment (the Child) can be admired in Perugia (Fondazione Guglielmo Giordano), while the image of the Madonna is part of a private collection.