Madonna with Child, Angels and Saint John the Baptist by Sandro Botticelli

This unusual painting depicts the Madonna and the grenade-holding infant in the presence of the young John the Baptist. Sitting on the benches angels in the background are like schoolchildren.

Books reinforce the impression of an intellectual interview and reflect the artist’s interest in learning and especially the new teaching of Neoplatonic humanism, an interest that researchers associate with the content of Botticelli’s secular paintings performed for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesci Medici.

It is possible that the picture is the fruit of the work of Botticelli’s workshop; the master could make a sketch of the composition on the ground and provide a large part of the painting to the students.

Related Paintings

Madonna with the Child and John the Baptist by Sandro Botticelli Madonna with the Child and the Five Angels by Sandro Botticelli Madonna with the Child and the Eight Angels (Rachin Tondo) by Sandro Botticelli Madonna and Child, John the Baptist and the Angels by Michelangelo Buonarroti Madonna with the Child and Saints Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, Kozma, Damian, Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Alexandria by Sandro Botticelli Madonna with the Child and John the Baptist by Vittorio Carpaccio Madonna and Child with Angels by Tommaso di Giovanni Masaccio Madonna with a grenade by Sandro Botticelli