Siena Puts Teodora Axente’s Madonna on Trial

For an artist, few commissions carry the pressure of Siena’s historic drappellone. 

When Mayor Nicoletta Fabio asked Romanian artist Teodora Axente to paint the silk banner for Siena’s famous Palio horse race, she knew she was going to be judged by the entire city.

During the two annual races, ten horses are ridden bareback around the central Piazza del Campo. For the Sienese, it is not simply a sporting event but life, death and religion wrapped into 90 seconds of frantic horse racing. 

The drappellone is the prize awarded to the winning contrada, one of the 17 historic districts that compete in the Palio. The rectangular silk banner is mounted on a black-and-white wooden pole and becomes the property of the victor, eventually entering the contrada’s museum. The August commission is particularly prestigious, with artists including Jim Dine and Fernando Botero having previously painted it.

The Sienese don’t pull any punches. When the two drappelloni are unveiled at Palazzo Pubblico each year (the other is in July) the reaction is immediate. The crowd will applaud in approval or remain silent in disapproval. 

Fortunately for Axente, when her banner was unveiled on Monday, the crowd gave her a one-minute standing ovation. But her relief was perhaps short-lived as people started to look more closely.

The focus soon fell on Axente’s Madonna, which sits above a storm-darkened Siena, her blue mantle extending over the city. Riccardo Freddo, the curator who presented the banner, tells The Art Journal that some viewers felt the Virgin looked too commanding, too regal, for the image they expected. This sparked talk of a petition calling for the banner not to be blessed by the archbishop in Siena Cathedral before the race, as is tradition.

The archbishop subsequently met with the mayor, and they decided that the drappellone would be blessed, Freddo says. However, the archbishop proposed that a religious figure be involved in reviewing future sketches before artists begin painting them.

“There’s often controversy and passionate interrogation around the drappelloni,” Freddo says. “But it was interesting to witness a work of art spark this much discussion in Siena in 2026.”

The controversy centres on an image that carries considerable weight. The August drappellone is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin, while this year’s Palio commemorates the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Camollia, the 1526 conflict during which Siena resisted Florence’s siege. Axente was tasked with incorporating those themes alongside the symbols and visual traditions of the city.

“I was very conscious of the history and tradition of Siena, and of how much the drappellone means to the Sienese people,” Axente tells The Art Journal. “Of course, that comes with a certain sense of responsibility, but I also saw it as a great opportunity. I wanted to confront myself with such a strong tradition, while remaining faithful to my own unique artistic language and way of seeing. I was happy to be inspired by the history and richness of the subject without losing my own identity. For me, it was less about feeling pressure and more about embracing the challenge and the privilege of becoming part of something with such a deep cultural identity.”

Photo by Andrea Lensini via Comune di Siena

Her banner places the Virgin at the top of a pyramidal composition, with the Palazzo Pubblico, Torre del Mangia and Duomo gathered beneath her. The 17 contrade appear around Piazza del Campo, each represented by its historic coat of arms. Two cherubs at the Virgin’s feet merge with fish, an example of Axente’s metamorphic imagery. Above the city, storm clouds recall the battle, while light radiating from the Virgin moves across the composition.

The significance of the commission extends beyond the race because once the horses have finished, the banner will be given to the winning contrada, becoming part of a collection that can stretch back generations. Freddo says the winning banner is treated with an almost devotional intensity. Members of the victorious district will kiss and touch it before it is placed in their museum.

“They have kept banners from palios from 1287,” he says. “And this Palio will enter one of the museums.”

Axente spent four months working on the banner in her studio in Cluj, Romania. The silk was transported from Siena under tightly controlled conditions. Only the artist, the tailor and the technicians involved in its production were allowed to handle it, as tradition dictates.

There were also prescribed elements she had to incorporate, such as the Madonna at the top, alongside the city’s symbols and the coats of arms of the contrade.

Her commission isn’t a one-off; it marks the deepening of a love affair with Siena. Axente’s exhibition at Santa Maria della Scala, which ran from November 2025 to January this year, drew on the institution’s frescoes and sacred relics. Her current exhibition at the Museo Civico, titled “Allegoria,” places her paintings alongside Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s iconic Allegory of Good and Bad Government. The show is curated by Michela Eremita, director of the Museo Civico, and Freddo.

“Siena has not simply been a place that hosted Teodora; it has become part of her artistic practice,” Freddo said at the unveiling.

That relationship is also tied to Axente’s childhood. She grew up in Romania with her grandparents, who took her to church every Sunday. At ten, she painted a Madonna and Child on glass, and her grandmother donated it to the village church, where it was placed on the altar. Axente would see it there each week during Mass. The drappellone now marks another stage in her relationship with Siena. 

On August 16, one of the 17 contrade will win it. The banner will leave Palazzo Pubblico and begin its life as part of that community’s history. For Axente, that permanence is part of the privilege, and the risk, of the commission.

“I saw it as a great opportunity,” she says. “For me, it was less about feeling pressure and more about embracing the challenge and the privilege of becoming part of something with such a deep cultural identity.”