Sandro Botticelli and Studio
Italian, 1444 or 1445–1510
Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist
c. 1490
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.
| Medium | tempera, oil, and gold on panel |
| Dimensions | Diameter: 34 7/8 in. (88.6 cm) |
| Object Number | 1955.930 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955 |
| Status | On View |
Image Caption
Sandro Botticelli and Studio, Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist, c. 1490, tempera, oil, and gold on panel. Clark Art Institute, 1955.930
Select Bibliography
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Eight: 15th and 16th Century Paintings. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1957.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Fifteen: Italian Paintings and Drawings. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1961.
Salvini, Roberto. Tutta la Pittura del Botticelli. Volume 2. Milan: Rizzoli, 1958.
Mandel, Gabriele. L'Opera completa del Botticelli. Classici dell'arte 5. Milan: Rizzoli, 1967.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970.
Frederickson, Burton B. and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972.
Mukherjee, Sushil. "Treasure of the Clark Museum." Berkshire Magazine (Winter 1982).
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984.
Morse, John D. Old Master Paintings in North America: Over 3000 Masterpieces by 50 Great Artists. New York: Abbeville Press, 1979.
Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992.
Held, Julius S. "Old Masters in the Clark Collection, Part I: Paintings." The Magazine Antiques 62, no. 4 (October 1997): 504–9.
Wheeler, Marion. Her Face: Images of the Virgin Mary in Art. Cobb, CA: First Glance Books, 1998.
Olson, Roberta J. M. The Florentine Tondo. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Lightbown, Ronald W. Sandro Botticelli. Vol. 2, Complete Catalogue. London: Paul Elek; Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1978.
Ludig, Sandra G. The Williamstown School of Botticelli Virgin and Child with St. John the Baptist: A Study in Iconology. Course paper: Graduate Program in the History of Art, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 1981.
Lingo, Stuart P. Image and Symbol: Iconography and Style in Botticelli's Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John. Course paper: Graduate Program in the History of Art, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 1982.
Arasse, Daniel, and Pierluigi de Vecchi. Botticelli: From Lorenzo the Magnificent to Savonarola. Exhibition catalogue. Milan: Skira; New York: distributed by Rizzoli International Publications, 2003.
