Give Van Dyck back to Church in Palermo, says Group
January 16 2026
Picture: Wikipedia
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that a group of citizens and experts in Sicily have been calling for a version of Van Dyck's Madonna of the Rosary to be permanently restituted to the church of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria in Palermo. The artwork was removed from there in 1922 for storage and display in the Palazzo Abatellis. It has been allowed to return to the church twice in every year for the Christmas period and in May.
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As it happens, I had a quick flick through the 2004 Van Dyck catalogue raisonné for this very picture and couldn't find it.* The composition appears to have been partly borrowed from the more famous Madonna of the Rosary located in the city's Oratorio del Rosario.
* - I'm sure a reader will get in touch in case I've been negligent here.
Update - A reader has kindly been in touch with the following link to another version which sold in Sweden in 2024. The catalogue note provides further details on the composition.
