Madonna with Child and St. John the Child
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| Madonna with Child and St. John the Child |
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| Sandro Botticelli , after 1490 |
| Tempera and oil on panel, gold |
| 46.3 x 36.8 cm |
| Private collection |
Madonna with Child and St. John the Baptist, also called Rockefeller Madonna , is a picture of the Madonna by Sandro Botticelli .
John the Baptist is the patron saint of the city of Florence , Mary the saint of the cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Pictures of Mary with the Christ child with John the Baptist were as devotional images at Florentine citizens and nobles very popular, Botticelli's Madonna Rockefeller is one example among many on the same subject. The small format of the picture suggests that this is also a private devotional picture.
History and provenance
The picture has had a complete provenance since it was first offered at an auction at Christie's in 1887 . The owner at the time was Charles Graham Somerwell, Baberton House, Juniper Green . After two further changes of ownership, it came into the John D. Rockefeller Collection in 1891 and then inherited from Winthrop Rockefeller . The picture remained in the possession of the Rockefellers for 50 years , hence the nickname of the picture. After further changes of ownership, it was offered at Christie's from a private collection in New York in 2012. With an estimate of $ 5,000,000 - $ 7,000,000, it was auctioned in 2013 for $ 10,442,500 by a previously unknown buyer. The price of the picture is the highest ever for a Botticelli picture.
The painting was on public display for the last time in 2004 in the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence in the exhibition Botticelli and Filippino, Passion and Grace in Fifteenth-Century Florentine Painting .
description
Mary, the baby Jesus on her lap, sits on a parapet, which is overlaid with an antique, gilded relief . Young John kneels in front of her with his hands raised in prayer, the boy Jesus bends over to him with a blessing hand. A wide landscape spreads out behind the parapet, with rolling hills, individual deciduous trees and a winding river; small clouds, reddish-orange colored by the morning light, sail across a pastel blue sky. On the bank of the river, a massive, grass-covered tumulus rises above a three-tiered stone plinth , which is surrounded by sharp, bare pinnacles and withered trees. Only above Johannes does a slender young tree with green leaves soar high into the sky.
Under her precious blue cloak with gold brocade pattern, Maria wears a high-belted red robe with gold embroidery on the sleeves. A red shawl also covers the back of her head, over which lies a very delicate veil. Johannes with the cross over his shoulder is dressed in his usual fur robe, the shaggy fur oozes out at the edges and flows smoothly into his shaggy brown hair. His red coat and the blue ribbon with which the fur garment is belted correspond to the colors of the Madonna's clothes. The cross nimbus of the baby Jesus and the nimbuses of the other persons are set with gold leaf like the broktat fabric of the Madonna and the relief .
