The Neoclassical painter Nicolo Barabino (1831-91) became a draughtsman after having studied at the Genovese Academy. Settling in Florence, Barabino became President of the Artists’ Club in that city although he also collaborated on the Municipio and the Celesia, Pignone and Orsini palaces in Genoa.

The composition is copied from a mosaic, also by Barabino, in the lunettes of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, executed in 1875 during the construction of the cathedral’s façade, some four hundred years after its consecration.

Christ, raising his hand in blessing, sits enthroned within a niche framed by pilasters. On the carpeted steps below him, the Virgin Mary kneels to Christ’s right while St. John the Baptist seems about to genuflect to His right. A single figure amongst the throng of Florentine artisans, merchants and humanists surrounding the raised throne holds aloft a flowerless stem, perhaps alluding to ‘the stem of Jesse’. The blue globe in Christ’s hand identifies him as ‘Salvator Mundi’. In the foreground, the scattering of cut flowers symbolises the transience of human life whilst the vase of lilies recalls the Annunciation. The scene is framed by a golden, pointed arch.