Detail of the Virgin and Child with St. John the Baptist by Botticelli in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, June 2010

Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist

about 1500

Sandro Botticelli, Italian (Florentine), 1444 or 1445–1510

Dimensions: 123.8 x 84.4 cm (48 3/4 x 33 1/4 in.)

Medium or Technique: Tempera on panel

Classification: Paintings
Type: Religious - Saints

Accession Number: 95.1372

Botticelli was renowned for the refinement and sweet delicacy of his figures. Patronized by the leading families of Florence, he also received important public commissions and ran a large workshop with many assistants. This painting, intended for private devotion, possesses characteristics of Botticelli's later manner-a certain stiffness in the profiles and drapery folds, a continued elegance as in the hands of the Virgin and Saint John, and such improvised details as the free painting of roses on top of the lilies originally sketched at right.

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/virgin-and-child-with-sain...