John the Baptist

Madonna of the Orange Tree, one of Cima's most distinctive altarpiece compositions, places the Virgin and Child within a garden setting defined by the orange tree that rises behind them. The orange (or citrus) tree was a symbol of the Virgin's purity in the Venetian devotional tradition, its white blossoms and golden fruit combining innocence and fecundity in a single image. Cima's garden Madonnas are among his most characteristic contributions to Venetian painting: the sacred figures given a specific natural environment that is both visually delightful and symbolically loaded. The Veneto landscape beyond the garden wall opens the composition into the characteristic cool distances that identify his mature work.

The Baptist figure is rendered with Botticini's characteristic careful drawing and bright palette, the camel-hair garment and landscape setting painted in the clear tempera technique of the Florentine workshop tradition.