For decades, it hung in a museum in Mexico City without anyone being certain who had painted it. It was thought to be the work of a student, but an investigation changed that story: it is an original Botticelli painted in the 1490s.
The painting is *The Holy Family* and is part of the collection of the San Carlos National Museum, located in the Tabacalera neighborhood. This discovery makes the museum the only one in Latin America to house an original work by Sandro Botticelli in a public collection.
How did they discover it was an original Botticelli?
The work measures 51.3 by 38 centimeters and depicts the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus and Saint Joseph. According to information from INBAL, it was originally part of a larger composition related to *The Adoration of the Magi*.
The piece arrived in Mexico in 1971, when the heirs of Swedish businessman Axel Leonard Wenner-Gren donated it to the Mexican government. However, for years its authorship remained in doubt.
That changed in 2025. A study by art historian Christopher Daly, published in *The Burlington Magazine*, confirmed through technical analysis that the painting was created by Sandro Botticelli himself, one of the great masters of the Renaissance and the artist behind world-renowned works such as *The Birth of Venus * and *Spring*.
Where can you see the Botticelli in Mexico City?
You don’t need to travel all the way to Florence to see a work by the Renaissance master. *The Holy Family* is on display at the San Carlos National Museum, a venue dedicated to European art that is housed in a spectacular neoclassical palace built between 1798 and 1805 and designed by Manuel Tolsá.
The piece is on display as part of the exhibition (Re)Ordering the Collection by Genre. So the next time you visit the Tabacalera, remember that behind these doors lies a true rarity in the art of our continent.
📅 Permanent exhibition; museum open Tuesday through Sunday
📍 San Carlos National Museum, Av. México-Tenochtitlán 50, Tabacalera
🕐 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
🎟️ General admission $75; free admission on Sundays
