PROVENANCE: Private Collection, Florence, until c. 1890; Douglas Freshfield, England; Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, 1902; T. J. Blakeslee, London; Catholina Lambert, Belle Vista Castle, Paterson, New Jersey; Lambert Sale, Plaza Hotel, New York, February 21-24, 1916, lot 329; Boice Thompson, Yonkers, New York; Julius Weitzner, New York, 1952; BJU, 1952.

Sandro Botticelli began his career in Florence as a goldsmith with his brother Antonio. He soon came under the influence and teaching of Fra Filippo Lippi, which launched him into a successful painting career under the patronage of the Medici. In 1481 he traveled to Rome to paint several frescoes for the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, a commission that represents his status as the leading Florentine painter of his time. The present composition reveals Botticelli's master hand in the most important passages (i.e., the hands and faces), an authorship supported by Longhi, Scharf, Zeri, Pepper, Fahy, and Townsend.

This painting showcases Botticelli's impeccable ability to render lines with such delicacy and grace that they artistically emulate the lines of Scripture itself. For example, the tender embrace allows the viewer to identify readily not only with the love of a mother for her child, but also with the love of a sinner who recognizes her need for a Savior. Botticelli visually illustrates the truth of Mary as a needy sinner through the Scripture that the angel holds. The Magnificat begins, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour" (Luke 1:46 -47).

As with the Master of the Greenville Tondo, this Botticelli tondo illustrates a form of panel painting popularized in the Renaissance. The smaller size was suited for private homes, in contrast to the large altarpieces commissioned by the Catholic Church during the Gothic period. The present work dates to around 1490, a time when Florence was in the midst of a great political and spiritual crisis brought about by the early church reformer Savonarola. The Dominican friar preached against the humanistic tide that was sweeping the government and people away from devotion to God. The preaching so affected Botticelli that he forsook mythological and secular subjects and thereafter painted only religious subjects.