Vierge à l'Enfant et deux anges

Botticelli painted this Vierge à l'Enfant et deux anges around 1490, now at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, one of the accomplished devotional works from his mature period when his workshop served the continuous demand from Florentine patrons for intimate Madonna compositions. The flanking angels create a formal, almost ceremonial setting for the sacred group, echoing the liturgical context of devotional practice without disrupting the intimate human relationship between mother and child. By this date Botticelli had fully refined his approach to the Madonna: the slender, graceful figures, the flowing drapery with its characteristic sinuous folds, the quality of wistful beauty that gives his sacred figures their unmistakable spiritual atmosphere. Vienna's collection includes this and several other works that testify to the international spread of Florentine art through trade and diplomacy.

Tempera on panel with Botticelli's characteristic flowing contours and luminous coloring. The work demonstrates the artistic qualities characteristic of Sandro Botticelli's period.