Detail of Madonna and Child with an Angel by Botticelli

This admirable close-up of extraordinary gentleness, temporarily designated under the title “Madonna and Child with an Angel*”, is a fragment of a major Renaissance work executed by the great painter Botticelli Sandro. This portrait of a celestial being reflects the quest for aesthetic grace and pure spirituality unique to the Florence of the humanists. By focusing on the face of this divine messenger, the artist plunges us into a universe of silent devotion and timeless poetry.

The face of the angel, drawn in three-quarter view and tilted to the right, displays an expression of melancholic serenity and infinite benevolence. Its eyelids are modestly lowered, and a slight mystical smile shapes its colored lips. Its magnificent curly red hair is topped with a delicate crown of dark vine leaves which accords with the translucent golden halo above its head. It wears a pleated white tunic enhanced at the collar with a golden fabric adorned with highly refined blue geometric patterns. In the background, beyond the grey stone window frame, stretches a bucolic landscape of gentle hills, punctuated by a slender church spire and a calm river under a cloudy sky. The lateral light delicately models the contours of its rosy cheek.

The Florentine artist demonstrates here a unique artisanal skill in the subtle rendering of emotions and skin tones. His impeccable egg tempera technique makes it possible to capture the fineness of the curly hair and the extraordinary transparency of the golden halo, testifying to an unequaled technical mastery.