To those who may be receiving one of these post-notifications for the first time: This is not a blog; it’s actually part of a book, and will make little sense to you without knowledge of what has come before—which you can easily obtain, along with a goodly amount of satirical theatre as matters progress, by simply entering ttgftyri.org into your web browser, opening the menu, and starting at page one. J.J.

Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice


Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Glasgow Museums Resource Centre


National Gallery of Australia

Palazzo Bianco, Genoa

Louvre, Paris

The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Private Collection

Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Muzeum Narodowe, Poznań



Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice

Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

Uffizi, Florence

Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Galleria Nazionale, Parma

National Gallery, London

Palazzo dei Musei, Modena


Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

Castello Sforzesco, Milan

Museo del Prado, Madrid

Louvre, Paris

National Gallery, Parma

National Gallery, Parma

Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden


Uffizi, Florence
We must pause here to report that in 1531 a Mexican peasant named Juan Diego, who claimed to have actually seen the Virgin on four different occasions hanging around a hilly area of Mexico City known as Villa de Guadalupe, where the new Spanish archbishop wanted to build a church, described her as clad in a pinkish-red gown and cerulean mantle covered with stars—and even had the mantle, which she’d given him with her image imprinted on it in living color, with which to prove it.
Today, the Church keeps this venerable object in a vault at her great shrine just outside Mexico City; while based on its image, she appears to have looked very much like the person in this anonymous modern painting:

Diego reported that she’d even spoken to him in his native, Aztec language—Nahuatl— introducing herself as the Virgin Mary, “mother of the true god”, and suggesting that a church now be built at that location in her honor.
At the moment, a temple consecrated to the Aztecs’ Great Mother Tonantzin stood there—every year, drawing millions of peasants from towns all up and down the Valley of Mexico, making it by far the most popular pilgrimage site in all the Aztec territory.
But after the Virgin’s appearance in the neighborhood, the Spanish priests destroyed the temple and replaced it with a church that they would simply call the basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe; and of course, as the stream of pilgrims continued pouring into the site, they assumed that the structure was just some new temple erected to Tonantzin—and now housing a great new statue of her called ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe’, along with, would you believe, a marvelous cloak bearing her image that she’d actually given to a man who’d recently seen and spoken with her.
And for the time being, the Spanish did little to disabuse them of that interpretation of matters, until eventually, Tonantzin and the Virgin became one in the eyes of many; while today, the site not only still attracts millions of visitors a year, but has become the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world—and indeed, the third most popular such site among all religions.
But now we must move on . . .

Louvre, Paris

Private Collection

Pinacoteca nazionale, Bologna

Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Rome

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans

Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome

The Hermitage, St. Petersburg



Louvre, Paris


Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid

National Gallery, London
701: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Accademia_-_Holy_Family_with_Saints_Catherine_of_Alexandria_and_John_the_Baptist_by_Palma_il_Vecchio.jpg
702: Kunstkopie https://www.kunstkopie.de/a/palma-il-vecchio-eigentl/die-hl-familie-mit-dem-jo-5.html
703: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palma_il_Vecchio_007.jpg
704: ArtUK https://artuk.org/discover/artists/palma-il-vecchio-jacopo-c-14801528
705: Artnet http://www.artnet.com/artists/jacopo-palma-il-vecchio/the-madonna-and-child-9Ky7GS-q5omEwsX-nj9LJA2
707: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
708: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html608:
709: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
710: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
711: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
712: Museo Thyssen https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/palma-vecchio
713: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palma_Vecchio_Sacra_Conversazione.jpg
714: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sacra_Conversazione_con_donatori,_Jacopo_Palma_il_Vecchio_001.JPG
715: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palma_il_Vecchio,_madonna_in_trono_e_santi_03.JPG
716: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
717: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
718: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
719: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
720: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
721: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
722: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
723: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Correggio,_madonna_campori,_1517-18,_01.jpg
724: Artnet http://www.artnet.com/artists/correggio/madonna-mit-kind-K1iBWsyW8OE6pHgyXDZE2w2
725: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
726: NGV https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/correggios-madonna-and-child-with-infant-st-john-the-baptist/
727: Britannica https://www.britannica.com/biography/Correggio-Italian-artist#ref47725
728: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
729: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
730: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
731: Wikipedia https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_di_Albinea
732: Wikipedia https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Correggio_044.jpg
733: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
734: Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/pin/244531454740756370/?nic_v1=1bfbm95arLg0ZDxWHLVa7rXj%2BnEhX8pY9oztNc5uFoDYMHd91wk8K%2FiSdmqUcWx%2F7C
735: Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_and_Child_with_Saint_George
736: Painting-Planet https://painting-planet.com/madonna-and-basket-by-correggio-antonio-allegri/
737: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
738: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annibale_Carracci_Annunciazione_Louvre.jpg
739: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carracci_-_Annunciazione.jpg
740: Pinterest https://www.pinterest.pt/pin/574771971189008378/?nic_v1=1bFFeCp7b1l%2B7ditFYTPIZ140bCoUMpUUdZauy%2FdmlFAKNBiNX6Uih7Yj4%2FUrBHNyY
741: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annibale_Carracci_Adoration_of_the_Shepherds_Roma.jpg
742: The Frame Blog https://theframeblog.com/tag/annibale-carracci/
743: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annibale_Carracci_-The_Flight_into_Egypt-_WGA04437.jpg
744: Web Gallery of Art https://www.wga.hu/index1.html
746: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annibale_Carracci_Virgin_Mary_with_child.jpg
747: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annibale_Carracci,_Madonna_delle_ciliegie,_Louvre.jpg
748: Artnet http://www.artnet.com/artists/annibale-carracci/the-holy-family-oGN85SUqYdz5kPyeuEy-yQ2
749: Museo Thyssen https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/carracci-ludovico/presentation-christ-child-temple
750: National Gallery https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/annibale-carracci-the-holy-family-with-the-infant-saint-john-the-baptist