Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist (c. 1490): Art, History and Details

Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist (c. 1490) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Sandro Botticelli (Italian, 1444/45–1510); Workshop.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The perfectly round form, called a tondo, became popular during the 1440s, especially in Florence. Made for domestic settings instead of churches, the circular format challenged the artist to create a harmonious, balanced composition within this more difficult shape. The attribution has been a matter of debate. Botticelli often collaborated with students, including Filippino Lippi, who would himself become a significant painter. Few specialists have doubted that Botticelli executed the central passages: the delicate modeling of the faces, the graceful poses, the figures’ profound interiority, and the diaphanous veil are the artist’s hallmarks. However, someone else in Botticelli’s studio probably painted Mary’s blue garment, also the most heavily restored part of the painting.

Object facts

• Title: Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist
• Date: c. 1490
• Creator attribution: Sandro Botticelli (Italian, 1444/45–1510); Workshop
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Painting
• Technique: tempera and oil on wood
• Dimensions: Framed: 115 x 12.5 cm (45 1/4 x 4 15/16 in.); Diameter: 68 cm (26 3/4 in.)
• Collection: MED - Renaissance
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1970.160

A detail from the museum

Saint John the Baptist, depicted here as a youth, and the Virgin were both patron saints of Florence.

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Yashiro, Yukio. Sandro Botticelli. London: The Medici Society, 1925.
• Bettini, Sergio. Botticelli. Bergamo: Istituto Italiano d'Arti Grafiche, 1947.
• Levey, Michael, and Gabriele Mandel. The Complete Paintings of Botticelli. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1967.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.