This statue of the Virgin is the second casting of a work gifted by the artist to the shrine in Medjugorje, a small town in Bosnia-Herzegovina located 25 km south-west of Mostar, and an unofficial Christian pilgrimage site. The Virgin is said to have appeared to inhabitants of the town several times...
This statue of the Virgin is the second casting of a work gifted by the artist to the shrine in Medjugorje, a small town in Bosnia-Herzegovina located 25 km south-west of Mostar, and an unofficial Christian pilgrimage site. The Virgin is said to have appeared to inhabitants of the town several times since 1981. The statue was gifted to Prince Rainier III on 31 May 1997 by the prayer group Padre Pio of Monaco and Friends to mark the 700th anniversary of the Grimaldi Dynasty. It was symbolically installed in the garden of the Chapel of the Peace, the headquarters of the first International Institute for Peace at the request of Prince Albert I in 1903. The statue depicts the Virgin Mary, praying.
French artist Greta Alessio was born on 28 June 1942 in Monaco. After devoting her adolescent years to dance, she attended ceramics classes at the Bosio Pavilion in Monaco-Ville. A passion for ceramics led her to take a serious interest in sculpture starting in the 1980s. She travelled to Carrara and Pietrasanta, where she taught herself the techniques of working with terracotta, then bronze and finally marble. She subsequently split her time between Monaco and the small town of Pietrasanta, where she produced her works (Fonderia Del Chiaro, Fonderia Mariani and Laboratorio Henraux). The first exhibition of her work was held in Monaco in April 1992. An admirer of Michelangelo and abstract Japanese sculpture, her style is varied and her favourite themes include the circus, dance and mythology. The Greta Alessio Prize awarded at the Monte-Carlo International Circus Festival bears witness to one of her preferred subjects. Two of the artist’s other works can be seen on the sculpture path: Padre Pio and The Fish.
