Madonna of the Book

Mary reads by a window, and her child looks up at her instead of the page. In his small hand, almost hidden, lie three nails and a crown of thorns.

The story behind the painting

Botticelli painted this small tempera panel between 1480 and 1481, when his style was at its most poetic, delicate and linear, still far from the intense pathos of his late work. Wikidata dates it to the 1480s. The patron is unknown, but a recent discovery by Annalisa Zanni, director of the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, gives a clue: the top layer of blue is lapis lazuli, a very precious ingredient, which suggests a highly prestigious patron. The painting is also adorned with gold filigree, which the contract with the commissioner required.

What to look for

Mary and the child sit by a window in the corner of a room. She holds a Book of Hours, a prayer book for lay people, and is absorbed in reading while the infant gazes at her. Both have their right hands open as if blessing and their left hands closed. On the shelf, boxes and a maiolica bowl of fruit are painted like a still life. Notice the tactile pages, the transparent veils and the gold on the clothes.

Meaning and intent

The three nails and crown of thorns in the child's hand foretell the Passion, though they are probably later additions to make the message clearer. The fruit has meaning too: cherries for the blood of Christ or Paradise, plums for the tenderness between mother and child, figs for the Resurrection. Mary's blue robe speaks of purity, heaven and royalty. As in Botticelli's other Madonnas, she is serious, thoughtful and focused.

Legacy

A recent restoration removed centuries of varnish and revealed a luminous sky and bright morning light, so that the painting seemed rediscovered. In the nineteenth century its beauty appealed to Italians who saw in it a source of national identity during the Risorgimento. One admirer, Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli, bequeathed his collection and his apartment to the public, and the painting is still there, in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan.