VENTURI [ACTOR]:
“Light sky, white at the horizon. Grey architecture. Cloak of the Madonna, blue with golden olive lining, red robe, white veil. Robe of the Child, white with violet scarf. Greenish-rose flesh-tints. All these colors are fresh, delicate and transparent.”
NARRATOR:
The art historian Lionello Venturi greatly admired the translucent coloring of Botticelli’s Madonna and Child with Adoring Angel. In concert with the graceful, linear design, it conveyed the gentle lyricism for which the artist was famous. Notice the virgin’s smooth, elegantly drawn features, the tone-in-tone handling of the drapery and the angel’s profile, isolated against the distant landscape. The architecture, too, is rendered with great precision, leading the eye into a space firmly defined by the stone wall, pillars and arcade.
The pigment on this panel has faded over the centuries. It exposes the underdrawing of the architecture beneath the angel’s face and sleeve, suggesting that he was painted last. He leans into the picture as if from our space, gazing adoringly at the mother and child, encouraging us to do the same.
Sandro Botticelli, one of the most influential and esteemed painters of the late 1400s, was a protégé of the powerful Medici family in Florence, for whom he painted portraits and religious scenes. He was largely forgotten after his death, but his reputation was restored in the late 19th century by a group of English artists known as the Pre-Raphaelites, who rekindled popular interest in the art of the early Renaissance.
Madonna and Child with Adoring Angel
c. 1468
Sandro (Alessandro Filipepi) Botticelli (Italian, c.1444-1510)
On View
Botticelli was one of the most individual and influential painters in Florence at the end of the fifteenth century. His melodic, linear designs have been greatly admired and are readily apparent in this panel. This composition is unusually sculptural for the artist. Forms are substantial and their disposition leads the eye into a space firmly defined by the stone parapet and middle ground arcade. The rounded hills of the landscape in the background complete the plasticity of the design. In this work, lyricism is bound to the description of natural data and the suggestion of human grace. The subtle combination of function and decoration in Botticelli's use of line provides the poetry of his paintings.
Details
- Artist Name: Sandro (Alessandro Filipepi) Botticelli (Italian, c.1444-1510)
- Title: Madonna and Child with Adoring Angel
- Date: c. 1468
- Medium: Tempera on panel
- Dimensions: 35 x 26-3/4 in. (88.9 x 68 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1987.2.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
Mr. and Mrs. J. Francis Austen, Capel Manor, Horsmonden, Kent, England, from at least 1877 (sale, London, Christie's, 18 March 1921, lot 85, ill., as Amico di Sandro. ?bought-in).
Austen, sold 12 December 1928 to;
[Duveen Bros., London and New York: New York stock no. 29467, sold 1965 to];
Norton Simon Foundation, transferred 1987 to;
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
Austen, sold 12 December 1928 to;
[Duveen Bros., London and New York: New York stock no. 29467, sold 1965 to];
Norton Simon Foundation, transferred 1987 to;
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
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