Botticelli, Sandro (c.1445-1510)
Madonna della Melagrana (Madonna of the Pomegranate)
1487
Tempera on panel, diameter 143.5 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze
The Madonna and Child with Angels called “Madonna of the Pomegranate” is a 1487 panel on wood full of symbols and meanings. Mary is at the center of a perfect composition, together with her Child, surrounded by six beautiful angels. A painting rich in elements referring to the purity of the Virgin, such as the white roses or the lilies. Red roses, on the other hand, are an allusion to the Passion of Christ, even more explicit in the fruit that gives the name to the painting and which Mary and Jesus hold in their hands: the pomegranate, symbol of fertility and wealth because of the several grains that make up its pulp, as well as allusion to the Passion, symbolized by its “bloody” grains. (GU)