VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH AN ANGEL

This painting hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago and was painted by Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, otherwise known as Botticelli, sometime between 1475 and 1485.  This is one of several works Botticelli painted showing the Virgin Mary tenderly embracing the Christ child.

Although he began his career much later in life than most other Renaissance painters, he is considered one of the greatest Italian Renaissance painters.  In 1481, he was one of the artists Pope Sixtus IV handpicked to paint frescoes on the walls of the Sistine Chapel.