Italian School – Madonna di Re (Madonna del Latte), late 17th/early 18th oil on canvas, 72cm x 57.5cm, within a gilt frame. Note: the iconography of this Nursing Madonna corresponds to a specific event in the history of the Santuario della Madonna del Sangue Basilica in Re, Piedmont, Italy. On 29th April 1494, a group of young people met in front of the Church of San Maurizio to play a traditional village game, piodella, which consisted of throwing a flat stone against a wooden cylinder on which a coin was placed. One of them, particularly unlucky in the game, became angry and threw his stone, striking a ‘Madonna del Latte’ fresco on the facade of the church. The following morning the fresco of the Madonna began to bleed from her forehead.