The Birth of Christ

Above the stable twelve angels dance in a circle under a golden opening in the sky, olive branches in their hands. Below, Mary kneels before the child, far larger than everyone around her. At the bottom angels embrace three men, and small devils flee into cracks in the ground.

It is Botticelli's only signed and dated painting. The Greek inscription at the top says that he painted it at the end of the year 1500, in the troubles of Italy, and links that time with the Revelation of John. The picture is often read under the influence of the preacher Savonarola, who had been executed in Florence two years earlier.