The Oratory of the Rosary of Saint Dominic ( Italian: Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico) is a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

oratory of

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

. It is located near the Church of Saint Dominic, in the

quarter A quarter is one-fourth, , 25% or 0.25. Quarter or quarters may refer to: Places * Quarter (urban subdivision), a section or area, usually of a town Placenames * Quarter, South Lanarkshire, a settlement in Scotland * Le Quartier, a settlement i ...

of the Loggia, within the historic centre of Palermo. The oratory was founded in 1574. In the early 18th century Giacomo Serpotta realized a sumptuous stucco decoration. Moreover, the oratory is decorated with several paintings of important artists like Matthias Stom; Guglielmo Borremans; Geronimo Gerardi (a ''Nativity''); Pietro Novelli;

Valerio Castello Valerio Castello (1624October 1659) born in Genoa, was an Italian painter of the Baroque period and one of the pre-eminent Ligurian painters of his time. His art drew inspiration from a wide range of sources. He painted on canvas and fresco.Mar ...

; and Luca Giordano. The most prominent painting is the main altarpiece by

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

, depicting the ''Madonna of the Rosary with the saints

Dominic Dominic is a name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans as a male given name. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". Variations include: Domini ...

, Catherine of Siena, Vincent Ferrer,

Olivia Olivia may refer to: People * Olivia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Olivia (singer) (Olivia Longott, born 1981), American singer * Olívia (basketball) (Carlos Henrique Rodrigues do Nascimento, born 1974 ...

Nympha Nympha may refer to: * another term for a chrysalis * the labia minora The labia minora (Latin for 'smaller lips', singular: ''labium minus'', 'smaller lip'), also known as the inner labia, inner lips, vaginal lips or nymphae are two flaps of ski ...

, Agatha, Christina and

Rosalia Rosalia or Rosalía (with diacritic) may refer to: Persons * Saint Rosalia (1130–1166), the patron saint of Palermo in Italy * Rosalia (given name) * Rosalía (born 1992), Spanish singer Places * 314 Rosalia, an asteroid * Rosalia, Pisidia ...

''. The painting was commissioned to Van Dyck during the period of the 1624

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

Van Dyck - Madonna del Rosario - Palermo

External links

Gaspare Palermo, ''Guida istruttiva per potersi conoscere tutte le magnificenze della Città di Palermo'', Volume I, Palermo, Reale Stamperia, 1816
Rosario Domenico Baroque architecture in Palermo 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy {{Italy-church-stub