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Virgin and Child with an Angel

A light-skinned, blond Virgin Mary in blue holds a child, his arms reaching around her neck and face upturned toward hers. At left, an angel looks on.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A light-skinned, blond Virgin Mary in blue holds a child, his arms reaching around her neck and face upturned toward hers. At left, an angel looks on.

Date:

1475/85

Artist:

Sandro Botticelli
Italian, 1444/45–1510

About this artwork

In this humanizing yet idealized depiction of the Virgin Mary embracing the baby Jesus, Sandro Botticelli conveys the sacred beauty of maternal love. Mary, expression soft and skin luminous, nuzzles her son’s chubby cheek as he grasps the nape of her neck. An angel, smaller in scale, looks on adoringly. Celebrated in his own time, Botticelli developed a distinctly sentimental and tactile style of painting for both religious and secular subjects.

Status

On View, Gallery 204

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Sandro Botticelli

Title

Virgin and Child with an Angel

Place

Italy (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1475–1485

Medium

Tempera on panel

Dimensions

85.8 × 59.1 cm (33 3/4 × 23 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Max and Leola Epstein Collection

Reference Number

1954.283

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/80530/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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