Florentine artist Sandro Botticelli painted Virgin and Child with a Pomegranate around 1500, late in his career at age 55. It depicts the Virgin Mary and her infant son Jesus Christ. Christ holds in his right hand a pomegranate, a symbol of resurrection or rebirth.
The painting, originally thought to be a copy by a follower of Botticelli was re-identified as an original painting by the BBC television series Britain’s Lost Masterpieces. It was in museum storage out of public display for over 50 years prior to re-discovery.
Sandro Botticelli’s Virgin and Child with a Pomegranate is in the National Museum Cardiff in Wales after being bequeathed by Gwendoline Davies in 1951. Gwendoline and her sister Margaret were wealthy art patrons who amassed a large art collection which they would later donate to the National Museum Wales.