LAURANA, Francesco
(b. ca. 1430, Vrana, d. 1502, Avignon)

Madonna della Grazia

c. 1471
Marble
Chiesa dell'Immacolata, Palazzolo Acreide (Sicily)

There is evidence that Laurana was in Sicily from May 1468 until September 1471, but he may have arrived earlier and left later. Laurana was last mentioned in Palermo on 28 September 1471, but he seems to have stayed on the east coast of Sicily that year.

The sculpture, which on the base bears the inscription "Sancta Maria dela Gratia de Palazu", the relief with the Dormitio Virginis, the shield of the Alagones and another, still unidentified, with a lion, was probably commissioned by the Alagona family to the church of Santa Maria della Grazia and after its destruction moved to its present location.