Madonna della Gattaiola

The Madonna della Gattaiola is a painting dating back to the mid-fifteenth century, kept inside the church of San Giorgio in Montemerano, a hamlet of the municipality of Manciano, in the province of Grosseto. The work is attributed to an anonymous local artist, traditionally known as the Master of Montemerano.

The work of late Gothic style, with superficial Renaissance influences, is currently kept inside a glass case with golden frames and is so named for the presence of a circular hole in the lower right part that allowed the passage of cats through the door on which it is painted. It depicts a Virgin announced and probably had a corresponding announcing Angel lost. Probably it was later adapted to act as a door, as the insert at the top that made the work rectangular would suggest, leaving traces of the primitive cusped shape.

The mother of Jesus appears with her neck slightly bent forward and to the right, with her right hand on her left chest resting at the height of the heart as a sign of devotion, while in her left hand she holds a sacred book; note, above the halo, the evident signs that demonstrate the functions of door to which the rectangular wooden table was used in the past. The very bright red color prevails in the background, balancing the darker shades of the clothes worn by Mary in the depiction.