Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist, Saint Cecilia, and Angels

Piero di Cosimo was known as one of the most unorthodox artists in Renaissance Florence. His paintings enliven traditional themes through imaginative inventions. Here, John the Baptist offers plums to the infant Jesus, who eagerly devours one while another lies half-eaten on the ground. At right, Saint Cecilia, patron of musicians, sings from a book of music, while wingless angels look on in the background.

The shadowed effect in the figures surrounding the Virgin and Child indicate that Piero altered his plans for the composition after he had begun painting: He added them on top of the dark background color, which shows through the thin layers of paint on the surface.

Executed in Oil on panel, measuring Diam.: 75 cm (29 9/16 in.); Framed: Diam.: 104.2 cm (41 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Piero di Cosimo builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward.

Look closely and the painting opens up. Objects you might pass over — a folded letter, a half-drawn curtain, the angle of a glance — were placed to be read. What looks like straightforward narrative is layered with typology: episodes chosen and staged to rhyme with older stories the original audience already knew.

Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago now holds the work, where conservators and historians continue to revisit its condition and attribution. Each generation of scholarship adds a layer to how Piero di Cosimo's output from this period is understood.

“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”