Botticelli, The Virgin and Child Analysis Early Renaissance Period
Botticelli’s The Virgin and Child is one of the most famous painting which illustrates the holy family in its sacred perfection. Immediately after seeing the painting, one can tell that the divine figures are shown here. With his special treatment of a human body, as well as the use of light and space, Botticelli successfully demonstrated the divine nature of the illustrated subjects in accordance with the beliefs and customs of his time.
Just like many other artists who chose Mary and Jesus as subjects of their artworks, Botticelli made his Virgin and Child anatomically perfect human beings in order to emphasize their holy nature. Both figures are perfectly proportional, although the infant is significantly larger than real new-born children. The saints can be easily identified not only by halos above their heads, but because Jesus is the only child that is perfectly proportional in his age and always has a wise and delighted look on his face, just like his mother. Madonna too illustrates a perfect female body, although the entire figure of hers cannot be seen: her facial features, hair and neck point out the fact that she is the only perfect woman of the Renaissance period. The viewers cannot see her body under the drapery, but because her thin face and neck are exposed, they can recreate it in their mind: it is slim, pale and tender, weightless. Although the body of Jesus appears naturally weighty due to the curved lines of his body, the whole painting looks buoyant and light, like if it is just floating in the air. Such feeling is caused by both the fact that Jesus is not fully standing on the surface, but is held in the air by his mother, as well as by the presence of transparent fabrics on his body and around Madonna’s face. Botticelli’s interest in anatomy can be very easily spotted: he drew the hands of both Madonna and the child with special attention and spent a lot more time perfecting them, which is indicated by the darker color of them. Portraying two divine figures, Botticelli wanted his viewers not to forget that Madonna and Christ possessed humanly traits that made them more relatable for mere mortals.
Light and shadow also invested in emphasizing the divine nature of Madonna and her child. Their faces are bright and exposed, since Botticelli wanted the viewers to see every single feature of them and did not intend to hide them in shadow. There is a slight shadow on Jesus’ face, which helps shape his head and indicate the direction of his gaze. There are also tiny, ghostly shadows under Madonna’s eyebrows and beneath her chin. However, the foreground is pretty much all bright, which indicates the transparent and honest nature of the subjects.
When creating one of his most famous paintings, Botticelli carefully considered the space and made it work for him, pointing out, again, the holy nature …
