Alistair Hardaker | Image: Ashmolean Museum
Painting once attributed to the artist’s workshop is on three-year loan from a private collection, following conservation and a new frame.
An early painting by Sandro Botticelli has gone on display at the Ashmolean in Oxford today, 11 November, more than 90 years after it was last exhibited at the museum.
‘The Virgin and Child Enthroned’, c. 1470, was previously exhibited at the Ashmolean in 1934–5, when it was attributed to Botticelli’s workshop.
Now believed to be the work of the artist himself, it returns to the museum with a new understanding of its authorship.
The painting was acquired earlier this year following a temporary export bar imposed by the UK government in 2025.
London-based private collection The Klesch Collection acquired the painting, valued at £10.2m, which has kept it in the UK.
It is now on loan to the Ashmolean for three years, and will be shown in the Italian Renaissance Gallery alongside masterpieces by Paolo Uccello, Giovanni Bellini and Titian.
Earlier this year the painting underwent conservation to remove discoloured varnish and undergo retouching, and has been fitted with a new, hand-carved arched frame, inspired by fifteenth-century Florentine examples.
Museum director Dr Xa Sturgis CBE, said: ‘We are delighted that this beautiful and intriguing painting will remain in the UK, and that visitors will have the opportunity to see it here at the Ashmolean, alongside other works from the Italian Renaissance. We are enormously grateful to the Klesch Collection for making this possible and look forward to sharing the painting with visitors over the next three years.”
The Klesch Collection’s founders A. Gary and Dr Anita Klesch, said: “We are grateful for the museum’s partnership in bringing this work to a wider audience and helping to preserve and celebrate its cultural legacy today and for generations to come.”
