Botticelli: Two Madonnas at Chambord

Chapel at Chambord  October, 20 2024 - January, 19 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 19 October 2024 to 19 January 2025 alongside its model conserved in the Pitti Palace in Florence, exceptionally on loan from the Uffizi Gallery.

­B : Vierge à l’Enfant avec le jeune saint Jean-Baptiste, atelier de Sandro Botticelli, vers 1510, Tempera et huile sur toile,180 x 134 cm © GrandPalaisRmn (musée de la Renaissance – château d’Ecouen) / Photo : Tony Querrec 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. Vierge à l’Enfant avec le jeune saint Jean-Baptiste, Sandro Botticelli, vers 1505, Tempera et huile sur toile, 134 x 92 cm © Photo SCALA, Florence – Courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali e del Turismo, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn / image Scala

© Sophie Lloyd

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.

© Leonard de Serres

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. Studio of Sandro Botticelli The Virgin Mary, Infant Christ, and Saint John the Baptist Florence, about 1500 Tempera on canvas 130.7 x 91.4 cm 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. Sandro Botticelli  Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist Year c. 1490s (Julian) Dimensions 74 cm (29 in) × 74 cm (29 in) Location São Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil