Last week the Vatican announced a Holy Year, or Jubilee, for the year 2025. Six centuries previously (1425), Pope Clement V proclaimed a Holy Year “with two novelties: a special commemorative Jubilee Medal and the opening of a Holy Door in the Cathedral of Saint John in the Lateran”.

Jan Van Eyck referenced the 1425 Jubilee in his painting of the Ghent Altarpiece – and the “two novelties”. They are located in the Singing Angels panel in the upper register.

A posthumous copy of the Jubilee Medal, produced about 1800, is shown below.

Fifty years later Pope Sixtus IV proclaimed another Holy Year for 1475. According to the Vatican website, “several renowned artists were working in Rome at the time: Verrocchio, Signiorelli, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Perugino, Pinturicchio and Melozzo da Forli”.

There is no mention of Leonardo da Vinci among the list, but his painting of the Annunciation (1476-77) does refer to Rome and the time of the 1475 Jubilee, which suggests he may have travelled there, even if he wasn’t employed on any of the art projects associated with the Holy Year. Domenico Ghirlandaio and his brother David had been commissioned to add decoration to the library of Pope Sixtus IV.

I shall explain more on this in a future post.