St. John the Baptist, Sandro Botticelli

This panel is a fragment from the right side of a large altarpiece. The complete painting must have represented the madonna and child enthroned with one saint on either side. According to a scheme common in late 15th-century florentine painting, a marble wall, enriched with cornices and polychrome incrustations, formed a niche around the throne of the virgin mary with blue sky above. This depiction of st. John and another fragment which was part of the same altarpiece, madonna and child, national museum, la valetta, malta), display a close stylistic connection to botticelli's san barbara altarpiece in the uffizi in florenze. The altarpiece from which the walters' fragment came is therefore attributed by zeri to botticelli's workshop. Date: circa 1485 (Renaissance). Place of creation: Florence, Italy. Dimensions: Painted surface height: 63.4 cm (24.9 in); width: 39.4 cm (15.5 in); depth: 1.2 cm (0.4 in). Medium: tempera on wood. Collection: Walters Art Museum. Sandro Botticelli - St John the Baptist - Walters 37427