Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist

The Virgin Mary tenderly embraces her infant son, Jesus, while a young John the Baptist prays devoutly. The Latin inscription on his scroll translates as, “Behold the Lamb of God.” John would later speak these words to his followers when introducing Jesus, prophesying Christ’s fate as an innocent lamb sacrificed to redeem humankind from its sins. The scene is painted as a tondo, a circular format often used for devotional pictures intended for domestic settings in fifteenth-century Florence.

Image Caption

Sandro Botticelli and Studio, Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist, c. 1490, Tempera, oil, and gold on panel. The Clark Art Institute, 1955.930.

Bibliography

Olson, Roberta J. M. The Florentine Tondo. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.