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Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). <em>Head of the Madonna</em>, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 23.26.jpg)
Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). Head of the Madonna, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 23.26.jpg)
Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). <em>Head of the Madonna</em>, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 23.26.jpg)

Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). Head of the Madonna, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 23.26.jpg)

Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). <em>Head of the Madonna</em>, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.23.26_1999_xrs_detail01.jpg)

Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). Head of the Madonna, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.23.26_1999_xrs_detail01.jpg)

Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). <em>Head of the Madonna</em>, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.23.26_1999_xrs_detail02.jpg)

Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). Head of the Madonna, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.23.26_1999_xrs_detail02.jpg)

Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). <em>Head of the Madonna</em>, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.23.26_1999_xrs_detail03.jpg)

Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). Head of the Madonna, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.23.26_1999_xrs_detail03.jpg)

Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). <em>Head of the Madonna</em>, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.23.26_1999_xrs_detail04.jpg)

Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). Head of the Madonna, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.23.26_1999_xrs_detail04.jpg)

Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). <em>Head of the Madonna</em>, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 23.26_acetate_bw.jpg)

Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). Head of the Madonna, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 23.26_acetate_bw.jpg)

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Head of the Madonna

Jacopo Torriti

European Art

This mosaic is a rare fragment from the funerary monument of Pope Boniface VIII (1235–1303). Looking closely, you will be able to distinguish the smaller from the larger tesserae, the pieces of colored stone and glass tiles that make up the mosaic. The smaller tesserae, which form the face and neck of the Madonna, date to the end of the thirteenth century; the larger tesserae, added after the tomb was dismantled in 1596, make up her robe.

Recently attributed to Jacopo Torriti, who played an important role in the innovations of expressiveness and humanity that characterized late thirteenth-century art, this fragment represents the culmination of his artistic achievement. Only two mosaic fragments from Pope Boniface VIII’s tomb are known to survive: this head of the Madonna, and the Christ Child now in the State Pushkin Museum in Moscow.
ARTIST Jacopo Torriti, Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300
MEDIUM Mosaic
  • Place Made: Italy
    • DATES 1296
    DIMENSIONS 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 23.26
    CREDIT LINE Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). Head of the Madonna, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 23.26.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 23.26.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
    Jacopo Torriti (Italian, Roman, active 1270-1300). <em>Head of the Madonna</em>, 1296. Mosaic, 26 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 2 13/16 in., 43 lb. (67.9 × 56.8 × 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, 23.26. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 23.26.jpg)

    TAGS

    Christianity
    halo
    icon
    Italian
    Italy
    madonna
    Mary
    mosaic
    portrait
    Roman
    Romanesque
    Rome
    tessera
    tesserae
    tomb
    Virgin

    TAGS

    Christianity
    halo
    icon
    Italian
    Italy
    madonna
    Mary
    mosaic
    portrait
    Roman
    Romanesque
    Rome
    tessera
    tesserae
    tomb
    Virgin

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