This is the only surviving work to be signed by Botticelli,
and it has been suggested that he painted it for his own
private devotions or for someone very close to him. It
is not a traditional painting of the events of the nativity,
that is the birth and the adoration of the shepherds or
wise men, rather it draws frmom the prophesies in the
Revelation of Saint John.
It is an unrealistic picture, highlighted by the use
of Latin and Greek text together, and the use of medieval
art conventions like the discrepencies in scale - for
instance Mary is painted so large that were she to be
standing she would not fit beneath the roof of the manger.
The angels carry olive branches and the shepherds and
magi are likewise carrying or adorned with olives or olive
branches, the symbol of peace. The scrolls which wind
themselves around the branches in the forground, combined
with some of those held by the angels at the top of the
painting read "Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, goodwill toward men" (Luke 2:14). As
the angels embrace the men on the eath, little devils
dive into holes in the ground (see bottom right).
The scrolls of the angels which point towards the crib
read "Mother of God", "Bride of God",
"Sole Queen of the World" and are universally
celebratory of Mary.
The inscription at the top of the painting is in Greek
and has been translated as "I Sandro made this picture
at the conclusion of the year 1500 in the troubles of
Italy in the half time after the time according to the
11th chapter of Saint John in the second woe of the Apocalypse
during the loosing of teh devil for three and a half years
then he will be chained in the 12th chapter and we shall
see [him burying himself] as in this picture". The
'half time after the time' has generally been understood
to be a year and a half earlier when the French invaded
Italy but may also mean a half millennium after a millennium
(1500) which to people at the time seemed to herald the
Second Coming prophesied in Revelation.
