This altarpiece is rich with detail. Botticelli builds niches partially from stonework and partially from foliage, choosing each species of plant carefully for its symbolism. He even painted little strips of paper (“banderoles”) onto each plant with scriptural texts to make his allusions explicit. For example, the roses around Mary are labeled with “like a rose tree in Jericho”; the olive branches in the copper vases are marked “like a beautiful olive tree in an open field.”The man to Mary’s left is identifiable by the eagle behind him: he is St. John the Evangelist. His garments and posture mirror Mary’s, they face each other, and they are closer together (spatially) than are Mary and the third figure. This figure is St. John the Baptist, wearing his typical camel’s-hair garment. He stands apart from the other three, which face each other in a discrete unit.
Botticelli’s altarpiece may at first seem to be a simple line of saints. But since Botticelli is capable of symbolism in every detail, he may have wished to indicate something to his viewers by the figures’ spatial arrangement.
Mary, the Child, and the Evangelist make up an ideal, almost contemplative scene, while the Baptist stands apart, indicating the holy trio with one hand. If St. John the Baptist stands for the repentance and penance he so doggedly preached, and if Mary and the Evangelist stand for heavenly perfection, then perhaps Botticelli is urging the viewer to approach perfection by penance and detachment.
