Madonna of the Book
The original, as its museum records it
Every line above is reproduced from the holding institution’s own catalogue entry, which is linked. Where their title, date or attribution differs from ours, theirs is the one printed here.
The file this print is made from
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About this painting
Some words on the open page are still legible. Luca Frigerio reads them as Isaiah — a virgin shall conceive — and as the psalm verse that opens every hour of the breviary, Roman and Ambrosian. The layout suggests a Book of Hours; James Romaine calls it a manuscript that sets Mary's piety beside her sorrow at her son's suffering.
So she reads him the prophecy of his birth, and his hand is already full of his death: three nails, a crown of thorns at his arm. Perhaps not original, the museum allows. Reminders, it says, of the Passion.
Sources: Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan, object page, inv. 0443, Golden Room; tempera on panel, 39.6 x 58 cm · Museo Poldi Pezzoli on Google Arts & Culture · James Romaine, Assoc. Prof. of art history, Nyack College; co-founder, Association of Scholars of Christianity in the History of Art · Isaiah 53:3, 53:5, Douay-Rheims · Luca Frigerio, 'Botticelli, la tenerezza di Maria', Chiesa di Milano (Archdiocese of Milan) · Isaiah 7:14, Douay-Rheims
Printed on demand. Public-domain masterwork, reproduced from a 10,001 px master of the original. The whole image is printed — never cropped to fit the sheet — so every sheet carries an archival margin, and the dimensions and resolution listed above are the ones you receive.