Madonna of the Book (The Virgin and Child)

Sandro Botticelli

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Keywords: MadonnaBookVirginChild

Work Overview

Madonna of the Book (The Virgin and Child; Madonna del Libro)
Artist Sandro Botticelli
Year c. 1480
Medium Tempera on panel
Dimensions 58 cm × 39.5 cm (23 in × 15.6 in)
Location Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan


The Madonna of the Book, or the Madonna del Libro, is a small painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli,[1][2] and is preserved in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan. The painting is executed in tempera on panel. It dates from between 1480 and 1483.


The Madonna of the Book is a soft and elegant work, in which Mary and the Child are seated by a window in the corner of a room. She holds a Book of Hours, the Horae Beatae Mariae Virginis, prayer books for laymen common in the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. The infant is gazing at his mother whilst she is absorbed in reading the book. The hands of both mother and son are positioned similarly, with the right hands open as in a gesture of blessing, and left hands closed.[3]


Symbolizing the Passion of Christ, the Christ Child is holding the three nails of the cross, and the crown of thorns. These are probably later additions, added to make the message more explicit.[5][6] This is the conventional representation in the Christian iconography. In addition, the fruit in the bowl has an emblematic meaning. The cherries represent the blood of Christ or are an allusion to Paradise, plums indicate the tenderness between Mary and the Child, and the figs are characteristic of the Resurrection.[3]


Mary's blue robe,[7] a color she is often depicted wearing, has the symbolic meanings of purity, heaven, and royalty.[8][9][A] In this painting, as in Botticelli's other large series, the Madonna is portrayed as being serious, thoughtful and focused.[10][B]


Botticelli interprets the scene with a sensitivity and love for small details: the set of boxes and the maiolica bowl of lush fruits are depicted as a still life; the pages of the book, the garments, and the transparent veils exhibit a realistic tactile quality.[11] The composition is refined with a good balance. Botticelli painted with subtle differences in colour, and he was able to put colours together so that they complement each other admirably. The painting is adorned with gold filigree decorating the clothes and objects. The use of gold was the result of the contractual agreement he made with the commissioner, and was included in the price of the painting.[6][11][C][3] Dating from about 1480, the painting shows all the elements of Botticelli's mature poetic style: a delicate, elegant linearity, a style which is still far from the intense pathos of his late work."[6] The identity of his patron is unknown.[4]


The interrelationship of light, shapes and voids confers an ethereal quality to the work.[D] Indeed, the painting might be considered as newly rediscovered, as a recent restoration revealed a luminescent sky and bright morning aura, which had been obscured by layers of centuries-old varnish.[12][13] One is reminded of other Marian images made prior to the year 1470. Botticelli might have been influenced by Filippo Lippi's Madonna and Child with an Angel from the Hospital of the Innocents in Florence.[3]


Botticelli and the Madonna of the Book were the subject of renewed interest in the 19th century. In its "extraordinary beauty" it appealed to Italians in particular who saw in it a source of national identity, during Italian unification ("Risorgimento").[14] Among Botticelli's admirers was Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli, who bequeathed his private collection and his apartment to the public.[14] Dr Annalisa Zanni, the Poldi Pezzoli Museum director, recently discovered more about Botticelli's technique and use of materials, as exemplified in the Madonna of the Book. For example, she discovered that Botticelli's top layer of blue was lapis lazuli, a "very precious and very expensive ingredient, indicating it was commissioned by a highly prestigious patron".[12][13][14]


It is housed in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan, Italy.[3][5][E]


The Madonna del Libro is a design that is extremely gentle and beautiful; it is a small vertical format panel painting. Mary and the Child are sitting in a corner of the room in front of the window, and her hand is resting on an open book. Some words are visible, showing that this is a Book of Hours, the Home beatae Mariae. As a symbol of his future Passion, the Christ Child is holding the three nails of the Cross and the crown of thorns.


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Sandro Botticelli’s Madonna of the Book is one of his most beautiful paintings. This work was included in a recent exhibition, curated by Monsignor Timothy Verdon, entitled Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea. This exhibition, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C., invites questions such as “who is Mary in Botticelli’s art?” and “what does his art contribute to the representation of her?”


Botticelli’s painting, created around 1480 or 1481, takes its title from the book that is open before Christ and Mary. This type of devotional manuscript, known as a Book of Hours of the Blessed Virgin, describes both Mary’s piety before God and her sorrow at the suffering her son. This highlights two sides of Mary’s identity.


In The Paradiso, Dante calls Mary “Virgin mother, daughter of your Son, humbler and higher than all other creatures.” This describes Mary as a sacred paradox. She is a mortal woman. She is the mother of God. The devotion to Mary, evidenced in Dante’s writing and Botticelli’s painting, acknowledges her as the conduit of grace through whom Christ entered the world. As Queen of Heaven, Mary has a revered place in paradise, a position from which she can intercede on behalf of the faithful. 


Botticelli’s Mary is a paragon of beauty. She has the tenderness of a mother and the decorum of royalty. Mary’s countenance is both graceful and sorrowful. As a mother the Virgin mourns Christ’s future suffering. And yet, she knows that his death and resurrection are her salvation.


Botticelli’s depiction of Christ is, necessarily, equally complex. The infant reaches for his mother with an expression that seems to be responding to Mary. But is Christ looking to Mary for comfort, as a child would his mother, or is he reaching out to comfort her? Christ is both Mary’s son and savior.


The focal point of Botticelli’s painting is the reciprocal gaze between Christ and Mary. The structure of his composition visualizes the love between them, making it present in the moment of the viewer’s faith. Botticelli’s artistic vocabulary draws the viewer into their emotional and spiritual bond. This capacity to envision sacred intimacy made Botticelli one of the most distinguished painters of devotional subjects in 15th-century Florence and continues to draw viewers to his art.


The Virgin with Christ on her lap was one of the most popular subjects of 15th-century Italian art and a recurring motif in Botticelli’s art. He transformed this well-known subject from a moment of maternal-infant affection into an image of spiritual fulfillment. The pictorial unity of Botticelli’s composition visualizes the sacred harmony of his subject. The pure and complete love between Christ and Mary evokes a potential relationship between God and humanity. As a work of devotional painting, Sandro Botticelli’s Madonna of the Book makes this blessing more accessible to the viewer.


Botticelli created the additions to the scene with a great deal of loving detail, and the ensemble of boxes and a lavish fruit bowl is very much like a still-life. The parchment pages of the book, the materials and the transparent veils have an incredibly tangible quality to them. Another refinement of Botticelli's painting is the gold filigree with which he decorated the robes and objects. The use of expensive gold paint was a result of a contractual agreement made with the clients, which laid down the price of the painting.


Known also as the Madonna of the Book, this painting represents the Virgin and Child in a domestic setting, intent on reading a volume, perhaps a Book of Hours.
A window is open on the landscape at twilight, but the diffused light which transforms the space into a mystical setting seems to emanate from the figures themselves. The various fruits in the bowl have a symbolic meaning, the cherries allude to the blood of Christ, the plums to the love between Mother and Child, the figs to the Salvation or the Resurrection. The nails and the crown of thorns (perhaps not original) evoke the Passion of Christ.
Dating from about 1480, the painting shows all the elements of the Botticelli’s mature poetic: a delicate, elegant linearity, a style which is still far from the intense pathos of his late work.