Madonna of the Book (sandro botticelli)

The Madonna of the Book is a soft and elegant work, in which Mary and the Child are seated by a window in the corner of a room. She holds a Book of Hours, the Horae Beatae Mariae Virginis, prayer books for laymen common in the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. The infant is gazing at his mother whilst she is absorbed in reading the book. The hands of both mother and son are positioned similarly, with the right hands open as in a gesture of blessing, and left hands closed.

Sandro Botticelli, original name Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, (born 1445, Florence Italy, died May 17, 1510, Florence), one of the greatest painters of the Florence Renaissance. His (The Birth of Venus and Primavera) are often said to epitomize for modern viewers the spirit of the Renaissance.