Light is Older than Love

In 1350, when Europe is still recovering from the Black Death, the future Pope Gregory XI visits the Tuscan painter Adriano de Robertis to destroy his latest work, the blasphemous Bearded Virgin. On the 25th February 1970, the North American painter Mark Rothko slits his wrists in his New York studio. The 11th September 2001, the Russian painter Vsévolod Semiasin writes a letter in which he reveals the causes of his madness. The story of these three masters revolves around a mystery – the unknown fate of Bearded Virgin by Adriano de Robertis – and a central idea – the commitment of the artist to his art in the face of persecution.