The moment of intercession in Caravaggio's Madonna of the Rosary (1607)

In Caravaggio's painting, the relation between Mary—who assumes the position of “God” as the judge of the Christian soul—Saint Dominic—the advocate—and the supplicants is highly unusual when compared to Lotto's rosary scene in which Mary is surrounded by a group of saints. But another altarpiece of Lotto depicting the act of almsgiving comes close to Caravaggio's bold figural composition. In Lotto's painting, St. Anthony towers above the scene of supplication and goes unnoticed by the supplicants who turn to the ‘advocate’ priests as mediators. In Caravaggio's Madonna del Rosario , all the poor supplicants kneeling before Mary's throne are in a similar way oriented toward the “advocate,” who in this case is Saint Dominic. In contradistinction to Lotto, however, Caravaggio's Saint Dominic turns directly to Mary. And even more unusual, the mother and child in the left foreground, who may symbolize charity, seem rather to observe the scene of Saint Dominic turning to Mary than to be part of it (See on the triangular structure in the Catholic belief system, the contribution of Largier in this volume.).