# Virgin and Child with an Angel

- By: Sandro Botticelli (Italian, 1444/45–1510)
- Date: 1475–85
- Medium: Tempera on panel
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 85.8 × 59.1 cm (33 3/4 × 23 1/4 in.); Framed: 106.7 × 80.1 × 7.7 cm (42 × 31 1/2 × 3 in.)
- Culture: Italy
- Credit line: Max and Leola Epstein Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/80530)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/b59cc3e9-a7c0-5aa1-1a22-bb472bb2e6d4/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

In this humanizing yet idealized depiction of the Virgin Mary embracing the baby Jesus, Sandro Botticelli conveyed the sacred beauty of maternal love. Mary, her expression soft and her skin luminous, nuzzles her son’s chubby cheek as he grasps the nape of her neck. An angel, smaller in scale, looks on adoringly. Highly celebrated in his own lifetime, Botticelli developed a distinctly sentimental and tactile style of painting for both religious and secular subjects.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0