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The Madonna of the Magnificat is the most famous of
Botticelli’s virgin paintings. At least five replicas have been created. Although it is a tempura painting, its
detail and luminosity make it appear as if it has been rendered in oil. Part of
this may be due to the amount of gold that Botticelli used. Usually reserved
for small amount of brocade on clothing or ornamentation in the halo, the gold
here is lavishing placed on rays of light, clothing, crown, and even on the
strands of hair. This tondo (round) painting was one of the costliest of its
time.
The subject matter is one we have often seen before but
perhaps shown in a new light. Although Christ is usually the one who is central
to the mother and child scene, here Mary is the one who is the key player as
she finishes inscribing the words to her famous song sung in Luke 1:46-55 which
starts,
“My soul doth
magnify the Lord:
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour
Because He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaid.”
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour
Because He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaid.”
She is being crowned the Queen of Heaven. Her crown of stars
alludes to the name often given to her as the Morning Star. Besides the angels,
crowded into the scene are figures known as none other than the children of the
famous Medici family (remember them?).
So what other icon can we find? An apple? No! A pomegranate, the symbol
of resurrection since the seeds burst forth just as Jesus would come from the
grave.
There are several things that I especially love about this
piece. Although the figures seem very crowded into the space, the composition
has a wonderful flow. I am drawn from Mary to Christ then through her hand to
the Medici and back to Mary again. Botticelli is a true master when it comes to
the modeling of forms. Each figure has substance and mass and seems to be made
of flesh. Especially interesting to me is the thought about who might have been
Botticelli’s model. If one looks at the Birth of Venus, there is a consistency
between facial features. Did he model both of these from the same young lady?
Who was she?
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ReplyDeletethe fitst thing i notice about this piece is all gold that is used in it. it brings the colors out more. The compisition of the people also interest me because although they are all on top of one another there is a space where you can see through to the bckgroung and the trees in the distance are very tiny which gives it that atmospheric perspective. i slao saw that there is pomegranate in the piece which is the symbol of the Passion. I also notice that the focus is not at Jesus everyone has their own focus. The transparency, great detail & bright colors make it seem like the medium is oil even though it is not. over all i like how the piece is layed out and even though there is not a lot of space the way the people are layed out is interesting. at a glance i thought that the two people at the bottom right side were girls but they are actually boys, Lorenzo de Medici is the young man with the inkpot and he is next to his brother Giuliano de Medici who is holding a book. and the extending of Jesus's hand is an extending of blessing to the revolutionary words of his mother.
ReplyDeleteI saw that this painting is rumored to be almost all of the Medici family, saying the wife, Lucrezia Tornabuoni, is Mary. The two girls holding the crown are the boys older sisters, Bianca is on the left and Nannina is on the right. The girl right behind the boys is said to be Maria and even Jesus is said to be Lorenzo's daughter. I guess since this family was so weathly such comments about these characters being them would be okay.
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ReplyDeleteThe Madonna of the Magnificat, painting by Botticilli is said to portray the Virgin Mary and two angels crowning her. The crown consist of stars that are an illusion to the stella mattuting (morning star) one of the names devoted to Mary in contemporary hymns. Jesus as a Child is holding a pomegranate in his hand,this is also a symbol of passion. This painting was also said to portray the family of Piero de'Medici with his wife Lucrezia Tornabuoni being Mary. Virgin Mary is about to dip quill and write the last words of the Magnificat.
DeleteI noticed in the open book in the center picture has Latin text for the canticle of Zechariah to the left and the Magnificat to the right with its amazing song to praise our God, “Has scattered the proud in their conceit, cast down the mighty from their thrones, lifted up the lowly, filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.” Mary does not only sing of revolution, but with the quill pen in her hand she is represented as a revolutionary women of letters. To the right hand of Jesus, is the hand of blessing resting on his mother's revolutionary words.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest concern with this piece is the fact that it is circular. Although it is different and gives its own uniqueness the figures seemed crammed and cropped in awkward ways. With Botticelli’s beautiful gem like tempura paint i can only imagine the potential beauty that had to be sacrificed for the circular cropping such as the drapery of the dresses, the golden hair of the two outside figures, and finally the details of the red dress worn by the lady overlooking the two reading. Additionally the added canvas would allow space for the figures so the eye can better perceive this pieces beauty.
ReplyDeleteThis painting is absolutely beautiful. This painting is a little different because everyone is not looking at Jesus. Although, you can tell that its Mary and Jesus by how they look at each other. The girls on the side of Mary are putting a crown on Mary. It makes the vial look so real because of its transparent. I love how you can see through it. The other girls are so interested in the book and what Mary’s writing. I noticed first thing about how she’s writing. It looks so realistic. Her hand looks 3D. What catches my eye is the colors. It’s not the dark; it’s more lively and warm. The colors make the peoples clothes real, especially Mary’s scarf. I love how it’s detailed and there are different shades of colors and it’s blended in. I like how there is space between the girls and Mary, leaving a great view of the landscape in the background.
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe that in this paint Mary is the center piece of this painting.To me it appears to be perimidal
DeleteI like how in this painting, Jesus is looking up at the sun above Mary’s head as if it was his father, God. I feel a connection there. In no other painting did Botticelli use as much gold as in this one, using it for the ornamentation of the robes, for the divine rays of the sun, for Mary's crown, and even using it to enhance the hair color of Mary and the angels.
ReplyDeleteThe magnificat prayer also known as the Canticle of Mary is as follows:
DeleteMy soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
This piece is absolutly beautiful, needless to say. But ive noticed something quite clever that Bottichelli did, he made his piece circular. Now I know what your thinking..DUH! But looking at this from a media perspective this is absolutly brilliant. In media we want the viewer to be drawn in to the piece and continue to look at it and a circular composition almost guarantees this. Very cleverrrr.
ReplyDeleteBotticelli's work is is beautiful. The thing that stands our most to me in this piece is the colors and gold work. He used mainly the primary colors. These colors are also associated with the colors of Trinity. Blue for Father, Yellow for Son, and Red for Holy Spirit. The white represents cleanliness and purity. Botticelli had used these colors in a was to bring balance into this piece. I am a big fan of all the great detail. The amount of gold that he had used shows his ability and craftsmanship. The crown is so very detailed and looks delicate. I believe that this ability to work with the gold in the way is due to his background studying as a goldsmith prior to learning about painting. The landscape in the background uses atmospheric perspective to really push the subjects closer to the viewer. This was influenced by Netherlands artist when trading between the two counties had grown. I have noticed that people have commented on the circular aspect of this piece. It is different from what most artist were doing at the time but it was not his first one. From what I can see (and I might be wrong) but it looks like Botticelli did Madonna and Child with Singing Angles in 1477 before Madonna the Magnificent.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone else interested in what happened with Botticelli and Savonarola? Interesting….
The first thing I noticed is that Jesus looks like a real baby! He looks pudgy and fleshy, but the only thing is that his arms look a little long. Someone made mention about the focus of characters, and the one thing i noticed is that the only one looking at Jesus is Mary. It almost seems that Jesus is comforting Mary as his one hand is on her arm where she is writing the song. His other hand is on the pomegranate (which I had to find a zoomed in picture to see!) symbolizing that he knows he will one day die but come back. I know Joyce mentioned the flow, but I see three different pyramids in this image. Can you find them?
ReplyDeleteI must say, I believe that this is the first piece I've seen where Mary is portrayed as a blond. She's usually a brunette, but regardless of hair color, Mary is as lovely as ever. Once again, Botticelli manages to blow me away!
ReplyDeleteThis painting holds a few key features that cause it to really stand out from others of the time. Obviously, the painting is round, different from that of most paintings being square or rectangle canvases. Making Mary the focus of the painting give way to a whole new situation for the artist to play with. Typically, Mary is looking to Jesus for guidance, but here Jesus looking to Mary like a toddler would look to his mother for guidance. It helps to heighten the bond between mother and child, disregarding the he is also the son of god. Adding his own family around Mary must mean that he was trying to show that his family are close to god and good catholic children. I'm sure this piece looks amazing from any angle. The gold catchs the light in a way that makes it jump off the canvas and really draw the viewers attention. It is very interesting that both Mary and Venus look very similar. Perhaps she was a woman he loved, or perhaps she was just someone he liked to paint.
ReplyDeleteI...kinda don't like it. The colors and figures are fine, but the shading seems a bit lacking. I think the piece could stand to have darker hues where necessary. There is a little more than obvious light source directly overhead yet there aren't really too many distinct, dark, dynamic shadows...I love alliteration.
ReplyDeleteWithout them, most of the fabrics look fairly flat and even baby Jesus suffered from it...well his left leg anyway. From me he looks like he's just hovering oh so subtlety above his mother's lap rather than actually sitting in it.
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