While on holiday in Italy, especially in summer months it is common to stumble upon beautiful chalk paintings which embellish the country’s already beautiful streets and piazzas. These pieces of art have been designed by so called Madonnari. The Italian Madonnari are an ancient form of artists whose origin has been traced to the sixteenth century. Many were itinerant artists, who travelled around the country working on the many monuments which were being built during the Renaissance, and who lent their artistic vision to builders to help visualize the plans of the architects, by sketching engravings or entire facades on the ground for the builders to see. When the work was completed, they needed to find another way to make a living, and thus often would recreate the paintings from the church onto the pavement, many of which depicting a favourite subject of the time, the Madonna, thus the name Madonnari. These travelling artists would travel to move through provinces or towns according to the festival calendar to join in the festivities and make a living from observers who would throw coins if they approved of the artist’s work. For centuries, many Madonnari were folk artists, reproducing simple images with crude materials such as tiles, coal, and chalk, and due to the transient nature of their work remained anonymous. Others, such as El Greco, would go on to become household names of the Renaissance.
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