Adoration of the Child
by BOTTICELLI, Sandro, Pen shaded with brown, white heeightening and pink wash, 161 x 258 mm
The lively kicking child between the melancholy Joseph and adoring Mary is, at first sight, closely related in its motifs to the fresco of the Nativity dating from the 1470s. However, when one looks at the firmer folds and contours, it becomes clear that this work must surely have been created some time later, and there are possible stylistic similarities to the two great Lamentation altarpieces.