Madonna and Child, c.1446-47 (tempera & gold on panel)

This tender devotional image of the Madonna and Child before a golden curtain still has its original frame, the classical shapes of which demonstrate the Renaissance fascination with antiquity. The frame looks like an architectural opening that has cut off the top of the Virgin's halo. Inscribed along its base in Latin are the words spoken to Mary by the archangel Gabriel, which were also a popular prayer: "Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee." The star on the Virgin's blue robe alludes to her epithet of Stella maris, the Star of the Sea. Filippo Lippi, a Carmelite friar, was one of the leading painters of 15th-century Florence. He was famous for his innovative naturalism and had many pupils, the most important of whom was Sandro Botticelli (1444/45-1510). For more information on this painting, please see Zeri catalogue number 44, pp. 73-74.