Our Lady of the Rosary

The canvas is signed and dated by the Flemish Ernst Van Schaych (Italianized in Ernesto de Schaichis) who lived in the Marches between 1600 and 1631. The painting represents the Virgin in throne with the Child, surrounded by pious women, who gives Saint Clare the Rosary beads. At the bottom of the painting there are Saint Francis and San Dominic with two other characters who probably commissioned the work.

The painting has the not uncommon baroque particularity of the main subject surrounded by 15 panels dedicated to the mysteries of the Virgin's and Jesus' life and dates back to 1606. That was the first period of the painter living in Camerino in the Marche, when his art was still influenced by the Nordic culture from which he managed to free himself after 1609 during his stay in Castelfidardo. Only during those years he absorbed the Baroque and Mannerist culture of Federico Barocci that led him to express himself with wide, airy brushstrokes and with bright and vivid colors.

Probably commissioned by the Brotherhood of the Holy Rosary to make an altarpiece in the ancient parish church, the work was assigned to a still little known artist, who painted it adding the two characters close to Saint Dominic, who probably contributed to the spending.