The San Barnaba Altarpiece: Madonna and Child with Angels and Saints Catherine of Alexandria, Augustine, Barnabas, John the Baptist, Ignatius of Antioch and Michael the Archangel. In the predella: The Vision of Saint Augustine, Christ in Piety, Salome with the Head of the Baptist, Study of the Heart of Saint Ignatius

In the 15th century, Dante’s Divine Comedy experienced a revival of interest in Florence, driven by a Medici-backed policy aimed at demonstrating Florentine cultural hegemony. This altarpiece, which Botticelli painted for the church of San Barnaba, reflects this cultural climate; indeed, the throne on which the Virgin sits is adorned with the inscription "Vergine madre, figlia del tuo figlio" (Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son). This is the invocation that Saint Bernard addresses to Mary in Dante's poem (Paradiso, Canto XXXIII).This sacred conversation revolves around the Virgin's monumental throne, which is surmounted by a large shell—a symbol adopted from antiquity to signify the immortality of the soul. The classical architecture, along with the perspective-geometric structure of the floor on which the figures are harmoniously positioned, alludes to the divine order regulating the cosmos.