Our Lady of the Chariot

In 1254, Our Lady of Sorrows appeared to a young Italian physician named Philip Benizi. Having fallen into a trance while at prayer, Philip found himself in a forbidding landscape full of gaping precipices and terrifying creatures. When he cried to God for assistance, he saw the Virgin Mary coming toward him from the heavens. She was riding a golden chariot pulled by a lion and lamb and was sheltered by an azure canopy supported by angels.

Mary presented the astonished doctor with the black scapular of the Servites. Philip took the gesture as a sign that he was to join this recently established mendicant order and, upon waking, immediately sought entry. He was eventually elected the order’s General Superior, became renowned for his holiness, and was officially canonized 1671.

George and Polly's stunning depiction of the vision that launched Philip's religious career captures the spiritual essence of the dramatic scene. The 6’-tall canvas was commissioned as an altarpiece for a chapel dedicated to the Poor Souls in Purgatory and presents Mary, under the title Our Lady of the Chariot, as a beacon of hope for sinners at the point of death.

More context and background can be found in our Making of a Painting post on the Goretti Fine Art blog.