Curators clean up as ‘imitation’ Botticelli proves to be an original

IT HAS been in the collection at a Georgian mansion for decades, admired by visitors as a clever imitation of a 15th century masterpiece.

But after closer inspection, in which curators peeled back at least a century’s worth of yellow varnish, a striking painting depicting the Madonna, Child and four angels has been assessed as a real work by Botticelli.

The work was thought to have been a small copy of Botticelli’s Madonna of the Pomegranate, painted by a talented but unknown peer.

But X-ray testing, infrared studies and pigment analysis have indicated that the painting, with its vivid reds, blues and golds, came from Botticelli’s own Florence workshop.

Rachel Turnbull, English Heritage’s senior collections conservator, said that after consulting with experts at the Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Gallery: “We are [able] to confirm that Madonna of the Pomegranate is from the Florentine workshop of master painter Sandro Botticelli.

“I noticed instantly that the painting bore a striking resemblance to the workshop of Botticelli himself.”

The 1487 painting was bought by diamond magnate Julius Wernher in 1897 and entered the collection at Ranger’s House in Greenwich, southeast London. A larger version – the original – is hung in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It was assumed this painting was an imitation, by an unknown artist, because it varied in detail to the original and because of the thick yellow varnish that concealed the quality of the work.

Madonna of the Pomegranate will be on display at Ranger’s House from April 1.

Rachel Turnbull of English Heritage completes the conservation of ‘Madonna of the Pomegranate’, a painting revealed as a rare example by the workshop of Sandro Botticelli, the 15th-century Italian early-renaissance artist