Madonna and Child with the Infant St John the Baptist

Francesco Botticini, a Florentine painter trained under Neri di Bicci and influenced by Verrocchio, painted this Madonna and Child with the infant Baptist around 1487. Though often overshadowed by his more famous contemporaries, Botticini maintained a busy workshop producing altarpieces and devotional panels for Florentine churches and private patrons. His style gracefully synthesized elements from Botticelli, Filippino Lippi, and Verrocchio. This work belongs to the Early Renaissance, the transformative period in European art when painters first applied mathematical perspective, naturalistic figure modeling, and archaeological interest in antiquity to the inherited traditions of medieval devotional painting.

Tempera on panel with careful modeling of flesh tones and detailed landscape background. Botticini's clean draftsmanship and bright palette reflect the eclectic Florentine workshop tradition of the 1480s.