Head of the Madonna

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.