The Madonna and Child before a casement, a landscape with Saint John the Baptist, the Flight into Egypt and the Duomo di Firenze beyond

Jacopo del Sellaio, whose surname means '[son] of the saddlemaker', was one of the most productive Florentine painters of his generation. The refined and linear execution of his figures betray Sellaio's indebtedness to Botticelli, who is described by Vasari as having apprenticed in Fra Filippo Lippi's workshop alongside Sellaio (Vasari, ed. 1550, I, p. 401). The casement setting, and high, winding landscape disappearing into the upper right corner also appear to owe some debt to Botticelli’s Madonna of Guidi da Faenza (Paris, Louvre Museum). Sellaio draws on his own environment for his presentation of the carefully rendered landscape; in the background, behind the Madonna’s head, the Cupola of the Duomo of Florence and the edge of the Campanile are visible.

We are grateful to Chris Daly who endorses the attribution to Jacopo del Sellaio on the basis of photographs and dates this painting to c.1483-85.