Oil painting showing a woman expressing thanks to the Madonna del Parto

Oil painting on panel showing a woman expressing thanks to the Madonna del Parto for cure of insanity in the form of expelled devils, unknown artist

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.