Madonna and Child

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Artist: Sandro Botticelli (Italian, 1446–1510)
Medium: tempera on panel
Size: overall: 74.5 x 54.5 cm (29 5/16 x 21 7/16 in.); framed: 113.7 x 94.9 x 8.6 cm (44 3/4 x 37 3/8 x 3 3/8 in.)
Museum: National Gallery of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

A young, pale-skinned woman with reddish-blond hair sits with a nearly nude, chubby toddler standing in her lap in this vertical painting. She looks down at him, her body and face angled to our left. Thin lines creating a gold halo fan out from the back of her head. An ivory-white scarf wraps around her head and trails down the back of her neck where it is tucked into a dark, teal-blue cloak covering her shoulders and draping across her lap. Under the robe, she wears a loose, cherry-red gown with vertical pleats over her chest.

The baby, also with pale skin, reddish blond hair, and a delicate gold halo, looks up at her face with light brown eyes. He stands on the woman’s right thigh, to our left. One of the woman's hands wraps around his body and supports his legs, while she props up his chest with her other. A length of pale gray fabric wraps over one shoulder and around his stomach. The two are situated in front of a column and pillar supporting a horizontal lintel overhead. The view beyond is of a blue sky over a golden field with dark green conical cypress trees in the distance.