Oil painting showing a woman in bed in a sick-room

Oil painting showing a woman in bed in a sick-room, attended by a physician, receiving the blessing of the Madonna del Parto by R. Pistoni, 1872

Paintings like these are known as an ‘ex votos’, meaning ‘from a vow’ in Latin. Left in a church in gratitude for answered prayers, each tells a story of a cure or delivery from disaster through the intervention of the Virgin Mary or another Christian saint.

The tradition, which continues to this day, is developed from Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman practices of offering gifts to the gods.