A painting in a Catholic church in central France, long believed to be a 19th-century replica of a Sandro Botticelli canvas, is in fact the work of the artist’s studio, experts say.
“Virgin Mary, Infant Christ, and the Young St. John the Baptist” (c. 1510), which hung in the church of Saint Félix at Champigny-en-Beauce, will go on public view at the Château de Chambord in the Loire Valley this month alongside its original counterpart by Botticelli in an exhibition meant to examine duplicate Renaissance studio painting.
Questions surrounding the work’s attribution were raised beginning in 2010 by the art historian curator Matteo Gianeselli, but the painting was ultimately dismissed as a much more recent copy by an artist unaffiliated with Botticelli. In June 2023, the timeless image of the Virgin and child was finally sent for analysis, and confirmed as dating back anywhere from 1440 to 1510 and attributed to the Italian artist’s Florence studio.
The original by the hand of Botticelli himself, “Virgin and Child with the Young St. John the Baptist” (1490–95), is owned by the Uffizi Galleries in Florence and is now on loan to the Château de Chambord.
Findings of an October 2023 study conducted at the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France on the once-inconspicuous church painting used binocular microscopy, micro-sampling, and X-ray analysis to authenticate the work.
The study showed that the painting was made with egg tempera, an ancient medium that predated the introduction of oil paint. Analysis also revealed that the pigments in the work were consistent with Botticelli’s color palette.
Both artworks portray Mary holding a baby Jesus extending toward and embraced by St. John the Baptist; however, the group of figures is reversed in the newly recognized work. Art historians suspect Botticelli used the spolvero or dusting technique to transfer the underlying drawing to a new canvas.
“In order to avoid exact duplication, the original scene was repeated with variations involving, in this case, the group of figures being reversed and background differentiation,” explains the Château de Chambord in a press release.
Botticelli studied under Filippo Lippi and later earned the patronage of the Medici family in 1475, launching him into Florentine high society as an influential painter.
“We are honored to receive these two pieces,” General Director of the Domaine national de Chambord Pierre Dubreuil, where the Renaissance castle is located, wrote in a statement. “Reminding us that the Loire Valley was, and still is, the land of the Renaissance where the influence of Italian artists was fundamental.”