20 October 2024 to 19 January 2025 | |
An unexpected treasure in the church of Saint Félix in Champigny-en- Beauce, the Virgin Mary, Infant Christ, and the young St. John the Baptist, initially dated as being 19th century, has recently been authenticated as an original 16th century piece from the studio of Italian painter Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510). It will be presented in the Chapel at Chambord from 20 October 2024 to 19 January 2025 alongside its model conserved in the Pitti Palace in Florence, exceptionally on loan from the Uffizi Gallery. | |
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Virgin and Child with the Young St John the Baptist, Sandro Botticelli. C. 1490-1495, oil on canvas, 134 x 92 cm, © SCALA, Florence - Courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali e del Turismo. | |
Botticelli’s original painting, displayed in the Palatine Gallery at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, seems to have been made fifteen years before the one conserved in the church of Saint Félix at Champigny-en-Beauce, in the Loir-et-Cher department. This work long went unnoticed as it was thought to be a 19th century copy. Curator Matteo Gianeselli was the first to draw attention to the painting at Champigny-en-Beauce during his research into Italian paintings conserved in French public collections. He identified the piece as an original 16th century work made in Botticelli’s studio in Florence. | |
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Virgin Mary, Infant Christ, and the young St. John the Baptist, studio of Sandro Botticelli. C. 1510, oil on canvas, 178 x 135 cm, Champigny-en-Beauce © Tony Querrec - GrandPalaisRmn | |
Restoration work was coordinated by the DRAC Centre-Val de Loire and carried out in workshops at the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF). In 2021-2022, the Musée Jacquemart-André presented the work in an exhibition titled Botticelli Artist and Designer, alongside the prototype from Florence. Matteo Gianeselli’s intuition was confirmed both by critical examination from art historians and scientific analyses made by the C2RMF under Director Dominique Martos-Levif. Attributing the piece to the Botticelli studio also allowed the painting to be classified under the Historic Monuments regime as the property of the commune of Champigny-en-Beauce. | |
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Domaine national de Chambord, Chapel © Sophie Lloyd | |
Another version of the Virgin Mary, Infant Christ, and St. John the Baptist was made in the Botticelli studio around 1500. It now belongs to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham, UK. Similar but different, the two paintings displayed in the chapel of the château at Chambord demonstrate developments in painting technique as well as the functioning of Botticelli’s studio and the extent to which artists in Florence created multiple representations of the Holy Family. The painting from Champigny is very close to the one in Florence, though the composition is reversed, no doubt on account of the duplication technique used, and shows background variation (outside with rose bush, inside with shadow). Bringing these two paintings together reflects the influences of Italian artists in the Loire Valley, including Leonardo da Vinci whose work inspired the architecture at Chambord and its famous double-helix stairway. | |
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About the Domaine national de Chambord Property of the French state since 1930, the Domaine national de Chambord is an industrial and commercial public establishment placed under the high protection of the President of the Republic and under the joint authority of the French ministries of agriculture, culture and the environment. By dint of a state council degree dated 1 June 2018, the establishment has joined forces with the Grand Parc de Rambouillet. The Board of Directors is chaired by Philippe Donnet. Since January 2023, the public establishment has been directed by Pierre Dubreuil. For over 500 years, Chambord has aroused admiration and fascination throughout the world. Since 1821, the monument has been open to the public. Placed as early as 1840 in the initial list of historic monuments in France, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1981, Chambord is one of the most breathtaking Renaissance constructions. Bounded by a 32km (20-mile) wall, the château is located in an estate containing no less than 5440 hectares. The second most visited castle in France, Chambord welcomes more than one million visitors per year. | |
Practical informations "Botticelli: Two Madonnas at Chambord" |
