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Sandro Botticelli

Virgin and Child with an Angel

1475/85
Tempera on panel
85.8 × 59.1 cm (33.8 × 23.3 in)

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● On view now — Gallery 205

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · verified July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

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

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