Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist
(Renaissance Europe )
This "tondo" (round painting) depicts the "Virgo lactans," the Latin term for the nursing Virgin Mary. The image testifies to the humanity of Christ as it shows that he consumed food like all other humans. Mary is seated on the ground--in this pose, she is known as the Madonna of Humility. The young Saint John the Baptist, Jesus' second cousin, gazes reverently at Christ. John the Baptist was the patron saint of Florence, and the painting comes from the Florentine artist Sandro Botticelli's workshop, suggesting the tondo was painted for a patron from that city. A "tondo" was not used as an altarpiece and could be hung in a private home.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 31, as Botticelli]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| Examination | examined for condition | |
| 1/1/1900 | Examination | examined for condition |
| 3/1/1946 | Treatment | loss compensation; other; varnish removed or reduced |
| 1/7/1958 | Examination | examined for condition |
| 4/27/1959 | Treatment | coated; examined for condition; inpainted; surface cleaned |
Geographies
Italy, Florence (Place of Origin)
Measurements
Painted surface Diam: 36 13/16 x D: 1 7/16 in. (93.5 x 3.7 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902
Location in Museum
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.422