Italian Archdicoese Defends ‘Androgynous’ Madonna

A depiction of Our Lady by Romanian artist Teodora Axente has sparked controversy in Siena, Italy. The Virgin on this year's Palio banner os androgynous and departs from any Marian iconography.
The Municipality of Siena commissioned Axente to create the Drappellone, the painted silk banner awarded to the winning contrada, one of Siena's historic districts, in the city's centuries-old Palio horse race. Axente was appointed by the city government on the proposal of Mayor Nicoletta Fabio.
The banner was unveiled on August 10. It places the Virgin above Siena and its contrade, protecting the Golden Rose associated with Pope Pius II, and commemorates the 500th anniversary of the 1526 Battle of Camollia.
Axente called the figure her personal vision of the Madonna and said the figures in the work were “more androgynous” and therefore “universal characters.”
On August 13, the Archdiocese of Siena published a statement by Father Enrico Grassini, rector of the Collegio dei Correttori. He rejected …More