SANDRO BOTTICELLI

This panel, along with three others, were originally painted on one continuous plank of wood, which formed the predella, or base, of an altarpiece. Botticelli carefully developed the perspective of the architecture and landscape and included painted frames resembling windows around each scene. When the altarpiece was disassembled in the 1800s, the plank was sawed into the four units now in the Museum's collection.