To adorn sacred spaces with icons, altarpieces, and narrative programs gives viewers reminders of their faith and gave meaning to liturgy and religious rituals. The Virgin is the first and most frequently portrayed subject, and her portrayal evolved with the development of Christian ideas. A brief overview of artistic precedents forms a context for Orvieto’s place in the continuum, notes where their artists innovated, and why they did. It also confirms Orvieto as being a more progressive intellectual and artistic center, with finer and more innovative artists than scholars previously realized.