The Madonna and Child with the infant Saint John the Baptist 

Sandro Botticelli painted this Madonna and Child with the infant Saint John the Baptist in Florence, at the height of the Italian Renaissance. While this image depicts a tender, familial moment, we can also consider the way Botticelli has translated religious doctrine into a visual language. The halos, for example, assert the divine status of the figures, while the presence of John the Baptist anticipates Christ’s future. It's important to remember that Florence was a theocracy with the church playing a significant role in the lives of its citizens. The art of Botticelli and his contemporaries served as a powerful tool of social control. Civic and religious institutions commissioned many of these works and so Renaissance artists like Botticelli were deeply embedded in the politics of imagery. When we interpret art, historical research into political, cultural, and institutional forces helps us understand the complex meaning it had in its own time. The value of art is always contingent on the social contexts in which it is made.