DOI Heft:
Nr. 4
DOI Artikel:Skubiszewska, Maria; Botticelli, Sandro [Ill.]: A tondo by Botticelli
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18864#0111
2. The Virgin and Child with the Young Baptist and an Angel, Private Collcction, Chicago, 111.
estimated as a work of particularly high quality, in fact it was scen as work of an artist
copying Botticelli and its reproduction in the Catalogue, which is not particularly large nor
particularly elear does not do it justice.
However if we compare the three versions on the basis of proper photographic materiał6
we soon realise that the Warsaw tondo is of a superior quality and that the other two in
comparison with it are secondary. Being smaller they do not have some of the border dctails
which appear in our paintig; the Chicago tondo oniits the upper architectural frame behind
the Virgin, while in the Akron tondo the actual frame cuts the composition on either side
and at the bottom. Much of these two paintings is done superficially forming unconvincing
areas. This is the case in the Chicago tondo with the Virgin's cloak which is almost void of
any folds. In the Akron tondo the folds are there but they lack volume and are illogical. It is
also possible to see elements that have been copied but not understood. In the Warsaw tondo
6. I would like to thank the owner of the Chicago painting, Mrs. William Wood-Prince for sending me the colour trans-
parency and a black and white print of the painting, as well as Mr. Lori Gross of the Akron Art Institute for the
colour slide.
97
estimated as a work of particularly high quality, in fact it was scen as work of an artist
copying Botticelli and its reproduction in the Catalogue, which is not particularly large nor
particularly elear does not do it justice.
However if we compare the three versions on the basis of proper photographic materiał6
we soon realise that the Warsaw tondo is of a superior quality and that the other two in
comparison with it are secondary. Being smaller they do not have some of the border dctails
which appear in our paintig; the Chicago tondo oniits the upper architectural frame behind
the Virgin, while in the Akron tondo the actual frame cuts the composition on either side
and at the bottom. Much of these two paintings is done superficially forming unconvincing
areas. This is the case in the Chicago tondo with the Virgin's cloak which is almost void of
any folds. In the Akron tondo the folds are there but they lack volume and are illogical. It is
also possible to see elements that have been copied but not understood. In the Warsaw tondo
6. I would like to thank the owner of the Chicago painting, Mrs. William Wood-Prince for sending me the colour trans-
parency and a black and white print of the painting, as well as Mr. Lori Gross of the Akron Art Institute for the
colour slide.
97