About this work

Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi) painted this in about 1490, aged about 41. It is now at The Met in New York.

How it was made

Gold ground: Gold leaf laid over a red clay and burnished to a mirror shine, often tooled with punches so it flickers in candlelight. Behind sacred figures it stands for heavenly light.
Tempera: Pigment bound with egg yolk. It dries in minutes and can’t be blended wet, so painters built up form with fine, hatched strokes. It was Europe’s main panel technique before oil.

Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi)

Italian, 1444–1510 · Born and died in Florence.

See all 2 works by Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi)

Rights and the museum’s record

Public domain. The Met has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.

Object number: 1975.1.74
Credit: Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Type: Paintings
Department: Robert Lehman Collection
Licence: CC0 1.0 Universal
Museum record: See it on the museum’s site

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