... have pictures of saintly children or young virgins in the home, in which your child, still in swaddling clothes, may take delight … Cardinal Giovanni Dominici, On the Education of Children c. 1410 The innocent play of the two boys was intended as a model for the young children whose parents Dominici advised. Botticelli rejected overt symbolism: John once offered Jesus a rose – symbol of his suffering and death – but the artist later erased it; a faint trace remains. Only Jesus’ strange disengagement may suggest his destiny. While the subtle concept was Botticelli’s, he delegated its execution to his workshop.
