Pietro Annigoni: Immaculate Heart of Mary
Title: Immaculate Heart of Mary
Artist: Pietro Annigoni (1910–1988, Italian)
Location: Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Hayes (RC)
Date: 1961
Painted in 1961 for the church of the same name, Mary is depicted as the strong Mother of Mankind. The child, sleeping peacefully on her arm, represents humanity undisturbed by the chaos of the world, shown in the blazing explosion of the background. Mary's foot crushes the serpent; new branches spring from the dead log; the dove with an olive branch, symbol of peace, in its beak is alighting; the pylons and factories in the distance recall where the church is situated and that Mary, like all of us, had to work. (Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish Booklet)
Influenced by the Italian Renaissance, Pietro Annigoni's (1910–1988, Italian) portraiture lead him to such significant commissions as that of Pope John Paul XXIII, US Presidents John F Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson and members of the British Royal Family. In 1947 he signed the manifesto for the Modern Realist Painters and in 1949 had works accepted for the Royal Academy's annual exhibition. Annigoni also devoted much of his work-life to fresco painting in Italian churches.
Further Information
Medium: Oil painting
Permanent display
See Annigoni’s ‘Immaculate Heart of Mary’ on the Ecclesiart map here.
Commissioner: Claretian Missionaries
Other artworks in churches by Pietro Annigoni: Monte Cassino Monastery, Italy
Other modern and contemporary artworks in the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Hayes: Crucifixion (Roy de Maistre), St Jude the Apostle (David O’Connell), St Anthony Mary Claret (William Redgrave)