1487 (ca.), Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro Filipepi), Madonna of the Pomegranate -- Uffizi Gallery (Florence)
From the museum label: Seated on His mother's lap, the Christ Child clutches a pomegranate, a fruit with multiple symbolic meanings whose red seeds evoke the blood spilt by Jesus for mankind's salvation. Scholars are inclined to identify this large tondo as a picture that Botticelli painted for the Magistratura dei Massai di Camera, the bailiffs' magistrature, in the Palazzo dei Priori (now Palazzo Vecchio) in Florence. The splendidly carved frame adorned with heraldic lilies is thought to be original.
1487 (ca.), Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro Filipepi), Madonna of the Pomegranate -- Uffizi Gallery (Florence)
From the museum label: Seated on His mother's lap, the Christ Child clutches a pomegranate, a fruit with multiple symbolic meanings whose red seeds evoke the blood spilt by Jesus for mankind's salvation. Scholars are inclined to identify this large tondo as a picture that Botticelli painted for the Magistratura dei Massai di Camera, the bailiffs' magistrature, in the Palazzo dei Priori (now Palazzo Vecchio) in Florence. The splendidly carved frame adorned with heraldic lilies is thought to be original.