46° Incontro Nazionale Madonnari

08/15/2018

The churchyard of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace is hosting the 46th edition of the historic madonnari event. Although bad weather forced some artists to withdraw, the event attracted 138 madonnari from 18 countries around the world, drawing between 150,000 and 180,000 people over three days.

The event has its roots in a fair with around 600 years of history: originally a religious event, it became a renowned cattle market before undergoing a long decline. It was the Pro Loco association that revived it and relaunched it through the art of madonnara.

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Marina Ferrari - President of Pro Loco Curtatone
We are on the churchyard of the sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of Grace. This year, on the one hand, we were a bit unlucky because it rained yesterday; on the other hand, we are lucky because today it’s cool, so even the madonnari can work better. We have some of the historic madonnari returning; there used to be more than 150, but right now there are 138, because it rained and some dropped out, as they saw that the weather was truly dreadful.
There are 18 countries from around the world, so we can say we’ve represented the whole world. The fair is about 600 years old: at first it was a typically religious fair, then it became a livestock fair—just think, the Arabs used to bring their horses here because the Gonzaga were famous for their horses. Then, little by little, the fair lost its importance. Now we’ve brought it back; in fact, we, as the pro loco, were founded for that very reason, through this event. Over the course of three days, about 150–180 thousand people come through.
For some years now we’ve had the people’s jury. Why? Because people care about saying which artwork they like best, and they don’t always agree with the official jury, the institutional one, since that’s made up of experts. But madonnari art is made for the people; it is, essentially, a popular art. In fact, the madonnaro is himself part of his artwork: he performs while drawing, and the people sense it. Preferences usually focus on works with a strong immediate impact, because that’s the purpose of the madonnari—to stir emotion—and the more one manages to move people, the more their art thrives. We’re not dealing with painters here, even though among them there are some painters. For example, there’s an eighty-year-old, Luigi Desiderati, an excellent painter who nevertheless comes here every year to pay tribute to the Madonna by painting here.
Paola Artoni - Director of Madonnari Museum
This 46th edition is also a chance for our Madonnari Museum to present itself to the public in its renewed form. We have redesigned the museum: it’s easier to read, with captions in English, so that foreign tourists and pilgrims can also understand and appreciate our documentary and pictorial heritage. Every year our museum continues to grow, because we document what is happening in the square right now, at this very moment, and what will happen in the coming months. We would like it to become a sort of home for the madonnari, where everyone can share their personal stories as well as the international festivals here in Grazie.
Marco Busca - Bishop of Mantova
This is a way for Ferragosto to become a little like what it originally was, that is, the feast of Mary's Assumption into heaven with all her humanity. This woman is a fully realized, complete, happy, fruitful human face. She truly was a woman who fully realized her femininity by becoming the mother of God. We remember this, and we also remember that the destiny of man is not death, disfigurement, or destruction, but that our body and our whole being are destined for the fullness of life.

Madonnari artists primarily focus on faces and gazes. They depict different subjects and themes, but their skill lies particularly in painting gazes, a gaze that may remain painted on the ground for only a short time, but it is a gaze that strikes the viewer, a gaze that creates an encounter, and people willingly linger to look at these masterpieces of a poor art, but an art that is rich in humanity, and also in the message that, united with God, man reaches heaven, his perfection, his happiness.