Madonna del Magnificat Cross Stitch Pattern

Description

Madonna del Magnificat Cross Stitch pattern is a stunning replica of the famous Renaissance masterpiece Virgin and Child with Five Angels — painted in 1483 by Italian artist Sandro Botticelli. The beautiful tondo painting has been at the Uffizi Gallery (Tuscany, Italy) since 1784.

The Project

This is one of the most beautiful cross stitch projects in our store. The detail is incredible and the finished piece is a close replica of the original artwork. It’s a full coverage tondo (or circular piece) and works best on white or ivory Adia cloth.

You’ll need at least 1.2metres x 1.2metres of 14 count Aida cloth and you’ll be completing a whopping 236,330 stitches. Don’t worry, we’ve included a dedicated Pattern Keeper chart in your download pack, which works perfectly in the App.

PLEASE NOTE: we do our very best to select symbols that stand out, but this pattern has 177 different colours. If you find a symbol that’s really getting on your nerves, do shoot us an email and we’ll get it changed for you.

The Painting

Madonna del Magnificat is a tondo painting — a circular work of art very popular in Italian Renaissance art. Here’s a little more about the painting from the Uffizi Gallery website:

“The Virgin Mary, crowned by two angels, is depicted on a throne. Under the guidance of her son, she is writing the canticle “Magnificat anima mea Dominum” (My soul doth magnify the Lord), which gives the painting its title. Jesus is sitting in his mother’s lap. He is touching a pomegranate, a fruit with many symbolic meanings, and whose red seeds recall the blood shed by Jesus to save humankind. The scene takes place before a window that opens out onto a bright, peaceful country landscape; above, the Serena stone frame creates a division between the kingdom of Heaven and the earth.

We don’t know the original destination of the painting, which was purchased from a private collection in 1784. Round paintings were usually destined to the secular world in the Renaissance, and above all to noble homes. They were often commissioned on the occasion of marriages or births. However, in the light of the considerable size of the painting, it may have been hung in one of the tribunals of the Florentine Republic, which were often decorated with holy images.”

The Artist

Sandro Botticelli (birth name Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi) was an Italian Renaissance painter who lived from 1445-1510 (approx).  He is famous for his mythological and religious paintings and for his work on the Sistine Chapel, which preceded Michelangelo by almost a century.

Botticellis’ paintings are some of the most famous in the world and we have transformed many of them into beautiful cross stitch projects, look for them here in the store.

Additional information