A lovely Virgin and Child 18th century Italian School oil on canvas painting depicting the Divine shepherdess in good condition within giltwood frame. This beautiful devotional painting with a lovely tender character dates back to 1700 and comes from Piedmont, Northern Italy, from a private collection. This antique Italian religious painting is inspired by the Divine Shepherdess Spanish cult, born in Seville in the early 1700s following the vision of a Capucin order father who had a vision of the Blessed Virgin. She appeared as a young shepherdess with a crook in her hand and a large straw hat falling over her shoulders. The sheep around her were tied together by invisible threads and held a rose in their mouth. Saint Michael was hovering in the air, going to the aid of a sheep which, having left the flock, was about to be bitten by a wolf. Saint-Michel intervened immediately and the Virgin Shepherd was already holding a rose in her hand to bring even this lost sheep close to her.
In this painting the Madonna is sat under a tree with the Child, a blue mantle on her shoulders, she is holding a rose in her hand and is surrounded by sheep and each sheep is marked with the crowned Marian symbol and contains a sort of legend in the inscription placed on the front of the trough,  as follows: THE DIVINE HOLY MARY SHEPHERDESS, Any time someone recites an Ave Maria or a Salve before him, he acquires 100 days of indulgence granted by the Holiness of Benedict XIV. ……..I made for Leonora and Cattarina my daughters.