The Miracle of the Madonna of the Fire

Aureliano Milani

c. 1725

Oil on canvas

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A group of people react to a miraculous image floating in a smoky sky above a city street. Some are pouring water, while others look up in awe. On the night of February 4, 1428, a devastating fire broke out in a schoolhouse in Forlì, a town in northern Italy. Eyewitnesses reported that everything in the school burned except a humble woodcut representing the Madonna and Child. In the foreground, precious books, a writing board, and dishes are scattered amid the chaos. As the bucket brigade and schoolboys race to put out the fire, they witness the woodcut miraculously fluttering to safety. That 15th-century print, by an unknown artist, survives to this day and is now known as the Madonna of the Fire (or Madonna del Fuoco). It is a treasured possession of the Cathedral of Sant