{"product_id":"sandro-botticelli-madonna-z-ksiega-lub-madonna-del-libro","title":"Sandro Botticelli - Madonna of the Book","description":"\u003ctable style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7;\"\u003e\n\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd colspan=\"3\" style=\"padding-bottom: 16px;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 6px;\"\u003eMadonna of the Book (or Virgin and Child with a Book)\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; color: #888; margin-bottom: 0px;\"\u003eSandro Botticelli\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #888; margin-bottom: 16px;\"\u003e1 Mar 1445 - 17 Maj 1510\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"border-top: 1px solid rgba(255,255,255,0.2); width: 100%;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"width: 55%; vertical-align: top; padding-top: 16px; padding-right: 32px;\"\u003eThe dramatic axis of this outstanding work lies in a tender encounter, at once deeply tragic, between an intimate gesture and inescapable destiny. The gaze of the little Jesus does not drift into space, but turns upward with trust and questioning, directly towards His Mother’s contemplative face. Mary, by contrast, with her classical, nostalgic profile and downcast eyes, focuses her attention on the pages of the open book. Yet the true emotional tension is created by the attribute concealed in the Child’s hands: a miniature crown of thorns and three nails, which encircle His small arm. This harrowing foreshadowing of the Passion contrasts with the calm, everyday act of reading, revealing in the scene a moving dialogue on love, sacrifice and the boundless acceptance of fate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe composition masterfully plays on the contrast between the intimate interior and the window opening onto the world, beyond which a calm, luminous landscape with silhouettes of trees unfolds. The room is filled with carefully chosen details: on the shelf to the left are bound volumes, while beside them rests a luxurious majolica bowl filled with ripe fruit. The plums and cherries, gleaming in the gentle light, are not merely decorative elements here, but carry a deep iconographic meaning, symbolising love and the blood of Christ. The colour palette bursts with the deep, royal blue of ultramarine lining the heavy mantle of the Madonna. This colour dominates the space and resonates beautifully with the pure blue of the sky seen through the window, bringing to the composition an aura of monumental dignity and divine calm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSandro Botticelli’s technical perfection is revealed in the unrivalled precision of his line and the jewel-like finish of the smallest details. The transparent veil, light as a spider’s web, framing Mary’s intricately braided copper hair, is a dazzling display of the Florentine master’s highest technical skill. Equally striking are the densely gilded, linear halos above the figures’ heads, as well as the rays and the star adorning the Madonna’s shoulder, rendered in liquid gold and shimmering in the light, giving the work the status of a luxurious devotional object. The calligraphic inscription on the pages of the book, imitating a Renaissance prayer book, unites painterly precision with the lyrical mood of the scene. It is an enchanting proof that, for the Florentine master, great art was born in the silence of the smallest detail, refined to perfection.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe painting presented here, known worldwide as Madonna of the Book, is held in the prestigious Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan and is regarded as one of the most intimate works from the early period of the artist’s maturity. Scholars of texts and iconography have identified the passage that Mary reads with the Child: the layout of the pages and the distinctive initials clearly indicate the Book of Hours, a prayer book popular in the 15th century among wealthy laypeople. Exceptionally rare in painting of the period, Botticelli presents Jesus not as a passive figure, but as an active participant in the reading, suggesting that the Son of God is learning earthly script while already perfectly knowing His ultimate divine scenario, written in prophecy. Experts have also discovered that the golden highlights on the Madonna’s garments and hair, as well as the three nails held by the little Jesus and the miniature crown of thorns, are not ordinary paint, but real powdered gold applied with a brush — an extremely costly technique reserved exclusively for the most prestigious private commissions of the Florentine elite. Scholars date the painting to 1480–1481, a moment when Botticelli was at the height of his linear elegance, shortly before the dramatic turn that would come with Savonarola’s sermons. Interestingly, the arrangement of stars on the Madonna’s sapphire mantle is not a random decoration: it refers to the medieval hymn in which Mary was called “Star of the Sea” — Stella Maris — which Renaissance humanists read as a symbolic guide for lost souls.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"width: 1px; padding-top: 16px; padding-right: 32px;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"width: 1px; background: rgba(255,255,255,0.2); height: 100%; min-height: 120px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"width: 45%; vertical-align: top; padding-top: 16px;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDETAILS\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTitle: \u003c\/strong\u003eMadonna of the Book (or Virgin and Child with a Book)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOriginal title: \u003c\/strong\u003e Madonna del Libro\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eArtist: \u003c\/strong\u003eSandro Botticelli\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDate: \u003c\/strong\u003e ok. 1480–1481\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlace of origin: \u003c\/strong\u003eFlorence, Italy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eType :\u003c\/strong\u003e Painting\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTechnique: \u003c\/strong\u003eTempera na desce\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGenre: \u003c\/strong\u003eMalarstwo religijne (Madonna z Dzieciątkiem)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStyle: \u003c\/strong\u003eWczesny renesans włoski\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eForm: \u003c\/strong\u003ePainting\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Giclee Art","offers":[{"title":"Black \/ S \/ Pine","offer_id":57785784467804,"sku":null,"price":58.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ S \/ Oak","offer_id":57785784500572,"sku":null,"price":76.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ L \/ Pine","offer_id":57785784533340,"sku":null,"price":89.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ L \/ Oak","offer_id":57785784566108,"sku":null,"price":115.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ XL \/ Pine","offer_id":57785784598876,"sku":null,"price":128.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ XL \/ Oak","offer_id":57785784631644,"sku":null,"price":179.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Light brown \/ S \/ Oak","offer_id":57785784664412,"sku":null,"price":76.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Light brown \/ L \/ Oak","offer_id":57785784697180,"sku":null,"price":115.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Light brown \/ XL \/ Oak","offer_id":57785784729948,"sku":null,"price":179.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Brown \/ S \/ Oak","offer_id":57785784762716,"sku":null,"price":76.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Brown \/ L \/ Oak","offer_id":57785784795484,"sku":null,"price":115.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Brown \/ XL \/ Oak","offer_id":57785784828252,"sku":null,"price":179.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Dark brown \/ S \/ Oak","offer_id":57785784861020,"sku":null,"price":76.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Dark brown \/ L \/ Oak","offer_id":57785784893788,"sku":null,"price":115.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Dark brown \/ XL \/ Oak","offer_id":57785784926556,"sku":null,"price":179.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1011\/0517\/2828\/files\/Sandro_Botticelli_-_Madonna_of_the_Book_the_Virgin_and_Child_-_Full.jpg?v=1780459728","url":"https:\/\/gicleeart.eu\/en-eu\/products\/sandro-botticelli-madonna-z-ksiega-lub-madonna-del-libro","provider":"Giclee Art","version":"1.0","type":"link"}