Virgin and Child with Young St. John the Baptist, and an Angel

Piero di Cosimo painted this Virgin and Child with Young Saint John and an Angel around 1500 in Florence. The inclusion of both the Baptist and an angel creates a celestial atmosphere around the devotional group. Piero's unconventional artistic vision brings a distinctive emotional quality even to standard devotional subjects. The oil medium allowed for rich tonal transitions and glazed layers of color that created luminous depth impossible with the older tempera technique. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

Oil on panel with Piero's characteristic combination of precise naturalism and subtly unsettling atmosphere. The figures display the psychological intensity that sets his devotional works apart from more conventional Florentine production.