Title of Art: Madonna of the Magnificat
Artist: Botticelli
Art Form: Painting
Date of Composition: 1483
Event: Magnificat
Subjects: Mary, Mother of God
Ritual Pose/Object: crown, book, pen, pomegranate
Exhibit Institution: Le Gallerie degli Uffizi (The Uffizi)
Exhibit Location: Florence, Italy
VM Image #: 0042
Photographer: Shala Graham
Date of Photograph: January 7, 2023
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Mary, holding Jesus on her lap, is writing her song, the Magnificat, in a book with an ink pen, with angelic youths around them. One of Botticelli's most celebrated works.
This tondo (circular work of art), created by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, features Mary holding the Christ child in her lap. Two angels are crowning the Virgin Mary, while the infant Jesus is guiding her right hand as she writes the Magnificat. In her left hand, Mary holds a pomegranate, a potent motif in Renaissance art. The blood red fruit and its seeds symbolize the heart, the cyclical nature of life and death, and can also represent the suffering of Jesus. This hint of Jesus' bloody and torturous death casts a pall on the idyllic pastoral scene in the background. The holy child and his mother in this luxurious, heavenly setting contains a glimpse of God's salvation purpose, the birth of Jesus for the salvation of humanity.