How does Madonna of the Magnificat elucidate its Description?
The work portrays the Virgin Mary crowned by two of five angels, a sheer veil covering her flowing blonde hair and a Byzantine style scarf around her shoulders. She is writing the opening of the Magnificat on the right-hand page of a book; on the left page is part of the Benedictus. As Mary writes in the Magnificat, the infant Jesus guides her hand, looking up to the clear blue sky, or perhaps to his mother, softly returning his gaze. In her left hand she holds a pomegranate. The figures are placed in front of a bright and serene landscape, and the framing creates a division between Heaven and earth. To the left, three angels crowd around the Magnificat, seemingly in deep conversation amongst one another.
The Magnificat, a canticle also known as The Song of Mary, is taken from the Gospel of Luke (1:46-55). In this narrative, Mary is visiting her cousin, Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. As John moves within Elizabeth's womb, Mary praises God for the favor he has bestowed upon her. The Benedictus, also known as The Song of Zechariah, is another canticle taken from the Gospel of Luke (1:68-79), and was the song uttered by Zechariah during the circumcision of his son, John the Baptist.Many art historians have debated that Mary is thought to be a portrait of Lucrezia Tornabuoni, wife of Piero de' Medici, and the two angels holding the book to be her sons Lorenzo and Giuliano.In Giorgio Vasari's The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Artists, Vasari states:In the Guardaroba of the Signor Duke Cosimo are two very beautiful female heads in profile by this master, one is said to be the portrait of an inamorata of Giuliano de' Medici, brother of Lorenzo; the other that of Madonna Lucrezia Tornabuoni, Lorenzo's mother.However, there are no reliable sources that definitively recognize this portrait as the Madonna of the Magnificat, so this hypothesis is largely disregarded. The identity of the Madonna is unknown, and may simply be one of the many generic Madonna figures that Botticelli painted throughout his career.
Lorenzo Giorgio Vasari's Giorgio Vasari Zechariah Giuliano Benedictus Lucrezia Tornabuoni John the Baptist Duke Cosimo Giuliano de' Medici pomegranate The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Artists Elizabeth Piero de' Medici Gospel of Luke Magnificat