The Virgin and Child with Two Angels and St. John the Baptist

Angels ahead of a named saint

The order of this title is unusual. Two unnamed angels are listed before John the Baptist, who is a named individual with a fixed office. Across these 224 titles the reverse is the rule: named humans first, angels appended. Nothing doctrinal follows from the sequence — it is how the entry was recorded — but in a collection organised around rank, a list that puts the anonymous before the named is worth noticing.

What the record holds

The catalogue dates the work to 1470 and gives Sandro Botticelli, a Italian painter, with Early Renaissance as the style term. The recorded dimensions are 64 x 85 cm. The measured colour family is yellow. The location on record is Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, Florence, Italy.

An early Florentine entry

The style term on file is Early Renaissance, and the recorded location is one of two entries in this catalogue held at the Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze. The recorded figures put the panel far below the altar formats that dominate the Florentine entries in this catalogue. This painter has three works among the 224 gathered here, and all three place their angels in counted, unnamed groups.