Indianapolis Episcopal Diocese Raises $425,000 From Auction of Rare Painting

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

INDIANA---A religious artwork long held by the Indianapolis Museum of Art and returned last year to the Episcopal Diocese sold for $425,000 at Christie's Old Masters sale in NYC on June 4. The painting of the Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist was identified by Ginger Bievenour, vice chair of Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts as a rare work by Francesco Botticini (Florence 1446/7-1498). "In his mature career," according to Christies, "Botticini enjoyed tremendous popularity as a painter of private devotional images, such as the present example, which treats a theme to which the artist returned on several occasions." The painting was gifted to the Diocese of Indianapolis in 1968, and the sale will benefit the mission's program.