well as the contrast between the tender infant and the grave expression of the Virgin—thus speaks directly to the rosary. According to legend, Saint Dominic (ca. 1170-1221) initiated the practice of the rosary, which he received from the Virgin in a vision. Historically, however, the rosary developed out of Marian devotions in the twelfth century and—influenced by the Dominican order — its use was widespread by the fifteenth century. In the eighteenth century the rosary enjoyed newfound popularity under the Dominican pope Benedict XIII Orsini (r. 1724-30), who extended the feast of the rosary to all Roman Catholics in 1726. For this reason the painting may connect to Dominican patrons, perhaps a Dominican church or a related con- fraternity. Given that the rosary functioned as a means to grace and an instrument of communal, controlled prayer, the image may have partic- ularly appealed to patrons participating in the revival of traditional, Counter-Reformation values in the early eighteenth century Certainly the renewed interest in the rosary under Benedict XIII argues for an early dating for the sketch. Tiepolo may well have executed this modello on a currently popular devotional FIGURE 2.1 GiambattistaTiepolo. The Madonna of the Rosary, theme in the hope of attracting patrons, rather than as a study for a specific commission.4 173$. Oil on canvas. Private collection. He may have turned back to the sketch years later as the jumping-off point for the full-scale role as intercessor. Tiepolo moves the Virgin's altarpiece. & arm forward and picks out her hand with light. All the central figures train their attention on her rosary, and Christ holds a small cross instead NOTES of beads. Tiepolo also moves away from the dramatic color relationships and startling con- 1 Morassi 1962, 4. trasts of light and dark so crucial to the sketch, 2 The earlier dating was first proposed in Piovene and Pallucchini 1968, 90-91. toward the more even lighting and more blended 3 For more on the connection of the cult of the rosary color scheme that mark the finished work. and the visual arts, see especially Esperanca Maria The rosary, an exercise in mental and vocal Camara, "Pictures and Prayers: Madonna of the prayer, involves the repetitive recitation of Rosary Imagery in Post-Tridentine Italy" Ph.D. diss., the Hail Mary while meditating on the life of The Johns Hopkins University 2003. 4 Entry by Catherine Whistler in Christiansen 1996, 3 Christ. Mary's centrality in both images — as 205-8. THE MADONNA OF THE ROSARY 29