This tapestry, also known as the “Madonna del Divino Amore” or “The Blessing”, due to the blessing gesture of Jesus addressed to St. John, was part of a series of tapestries depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin, made on commission by the bishop of Liège, Erard de la Mark (also known as Eberhard von der Mark or Erardo della Marca, 1472 – 1538), whose coat of arms appears in the center of the right edge.It was donated to the Shrine of Loreto on 7 June 1723 by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, grand nephew of Pope Alexander VIII whose coat of arms, in the center of the left edge, covers the underlying one of Bishop de la Mark himself.The sacred representation is inspired by the Virgin of the Palm, an engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi derived from a Raphaelesque painting, kept in the Pinacoteca of Napoli. The tapestry was kept in the Basilica, in the cupboards of the Treasury Room, then exhibited in the Sala del Regio Palazzo, later known as the banquet hall, from where it was removed in 1898.”