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Watch the two angels in red pull the dark green curtains apart, then follow the thin tree trunks that frame the mother and child.
Two angels draw back heavy curtains to show the Virgin and Child, framed by slender trees that stand in for the back of a throne. Florentine patrons usually ordered round pictures like this, called tondi, for a bedroom, and the Child’s blessing suggests private prayer. The Art Institute sees Botticelli’s work as the culmination of a devout Florentine tradition running from Fra Angelico through his teacher, Fra Filippo Lippi.
Tempera on panel · Diam.: 34.4 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Renaissance · Late Gothic and Early Renaissance
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Virgin and Child with Two Angels
- Artist
- Sandro Botticelli (Italian, 1444/45–1510)
- Date
- 1485–95
- Medium
- Tempera on panel
- Dimensions
- Diam.: 34.4 cm (13 1/2 in.); Framed: 6.4 × 44.5 cm (2 1/2 × 17 1/2 in.)
- Credit line
- Max and Leola Epstein Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Renaissance c. 1300–1600
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.