Mystery Panting

May 8, 2008 3:56 AM

Can anyone give me any insight into this mystery painting? All thoughts welcomed.

This hung on the wall above my bed in a place I stayed for a summer, several years ago, on the Adriatic coast of Albania. I was mystified by it, and took a picture of it in order to try to decipher it later on, but forgot about it, and now whilst searching for other things, I rediscovered it. Obviously, the 'fiume Ticino' is the River Ticino flowing through Pavia, but searches for the date, and the meaning of the abbreviation, have turned up nothing. Anybody got any ideas? I know it's a longshot...

posted by hydatius to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

Best answer: This database has the location, a church in Ornavasso. It describes it as "four men in the river invoking the Virgin Mary", and files it under "transportation incidents". The artist seems to be unknown.
posted by dhoe at 4:27 AM on May 8, 2008

Best answer: The church where the painting is located has a collection of over 1000 ex-voto. I guess it's pretty save to assume that somebody commisioned it after being miracolously saved from a transportation incident in the river, but haven't been able to find out more.
posted by dhoe at 4:44 AM on May 8, 2008

Response by poster: Superb work, dhoe. Many thanks.
posted by hydatius at 4:48 AM on May 8, 2008

Response by poster: /And yes, I know the title says 'panting'. I am an idiot. Apologies to all who came inside or clicked on the link hoping for something like "When Strangers Thermoregulate: all mystery panting, all the time".
posted by hydatius at 5:03 AM on May 8, 2008

How interesting, I didn't know there ex-votos outside Latin america. Compare it with Mexican ex-votos.
posted by clearlydemon at 7:11 AM on May 8, 2008

Some Catholic churches in New Mexico have ex-votos (especially from people who survived traffic accidents).
posted by Carol Anne at 10:15 AM on May 8, 2008