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A woman kneels, angled to our left, and tips her face down toward a naked baby propped on a pillow against a pile of hay in a shed-like structure in this round painting. The woman and baby have pale skin, blond hair, and their heads are surrounded with gold halos. The woman’s arms cross her chest as she looks down, her eyes nearly closed. She has high cheekbones, a narrow chin, a long, straight nose, and her pale lips are closed. Her long hair tucks under the neck of her aquamarine-blue cloak, which covers her coral-red dress. The dress and robe pool around her legs and under the baby, near her knees to our left. The baby has rounded cheeks and his belly and legs are pudgy. His hands and arms stretch up to the woman and his head is tilted dramatically back to look up at her. One foot, farther from us, kicks out and the other knee is bent. The woman and baby are on a grassy area supported and framed by concrete-gray blocks, over an arched doorway below. The stone blocks also enclose an area housing a donkey and ox to our left. There is a thatched roof above and a landscape with rolling hills and a river beyond.

Sandro Botticelli

The Virgin Adoring the Child, 1480/1490

Not on View

Medium

tempera on poplar panel

Dimensions

overall (diameter): 58.9 cm (23 3/16 in.)

framed: 82.2 x 6.4 cm (32 3/8 x 2 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1952.2.4

Artists / Makers

Sandro Botticelli (painter) Florentine, 1446 - 1510

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Provenance

Charles Paravey [d. by 1878], Paris; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 13 April 1878, no. 97, as by Filippo Lippi, probably bought in); probably by inheritance to Paravey's daughter, Mme Raynaud, Paris. (sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 16 December 1929, no. 44, as by Filippo Lippi); (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York); sold October 1947 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1952 to NGA.

[1] The invoice from Wildenstein & Co. to the Kress Foundation (copy in NGA curatorial files) is dated 30 October 1947. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2331.

Associated Names

Drouot, Hôtel
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Paravey, Charles
Raynaud, Mme
Wildenstein & Co., Inc.

Exhibition History

1933: A Century of Progress. Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago, June-November 1933, no. 109, as Nativity.

1933: Five Centuries of European Painting, Los Angeles Museum of Art, November-December 1933, no. 3, repro., as The Nativity.

1933: Italian Paintings of the XIV to XVI Century, Detroit Institute of Arts, March 1933, no. 24, as Madonna Adoring the Child.

1935: Exhibition of Italian Paintings of the Renaissance, The Century Association, New York, 1935, no. 2, as Madonna Adoring the Child.

1939: Masterpieces of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, New York World's Fair, 1939, no. 21, repro., as The Madonna Adoring the Child.

1941: Masterpieces of Art from European and American Collections, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1941, no. 4, repro., as Madonna Adoring the Child.

1947: Italian Paintings, Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1947, no. 16, repro., as Adoration of the Child.

Bibliography

1951: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 52, no. 14, repro.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 69, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 17.

1966: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 122, fig. 333.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 10, repro.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 38, repro.

1979: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:85-86; 2:pl. 57.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 97, no. 60, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 56, repro.

2003: Boskovits, Miklós, and David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2003: 157-161, color repro.