Sandro Botticelli

Alleged self-portrait of Botticelli, in his Adoration of the Magi. , .
Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli ("little barrel") (, – , ) was an of the Florentine school during the Early (). Less than a hundred years later, this movement, under the patronage of , was characterized by as a "", a thought, suitably enough, he expressed at the head of his Vita of Botticelli.
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Biography
Born in in the working-class rione of Ognissanti, Botticelli was first apprenticed to a goldsmith, then, following the boy's wishes, his doting father sent him to who was at work frescoing the Convent of the Carmine. Lippo Lippi's synthesis of the new control of three-dimensional forms, tender expressiveness in face and gesture, and decorative details inherited from the late Gothic style were the strongest influences on Botticelli. A different influence was the new sculptural monumentality of the , who were doing a series of Virtues for the Tribunale or meeting hall of the Mercanzia, a cloth-merchants' confraternity, and Botticelli contributed to the set the , dated in the . He was an apprentice too of , where worked beside him, but he made his name in his local , with a that successfully competed as a pendant with 's Jerome on the other side "the head of the saint being expressive of profound thought and quick subtlety" (Vasari). In he opened his own independent studio.
: a revived Venus Pudica for a new view of pagan (Uffizi, Florence)
Botticelli came of age in the time of Cosimo de' Medici. He lived to become the favorite painter of Cosimo's eminent grandson, Lorenzo il Magnifico. Lorenzo de' Medici was quick to employ his talent. The artist's paintings chronicle the triumphs of Lorenzo and the destruction of his enemies on the walls of Florence. Botticelli is representative of the Medicean age, his art is as extensive as the culture of the Renaissance itself. Always politically aware, the artist recorded the struggles between the Medici and the Pazzi and the Arrabbiati and the Piagonni. Botticelli made consistent use of the circular form and did many beautiful female nudes, according to Vasari. The Birth of Venus was at the Medici villa of Castello.
Botticelli's Venus graces the first of the (2002)
He was influenced by and . , with its fusion of pagan and Christian themes and its elevation of estheticism as a transcendental element of art, was deeply influential in his artwork, as it was with his patrons, the Medicis.
Sandro was intensely religious. In later life, he was one of 's followers and burned his own paintings on pagan themes in the notorious "". Botticelli biographer Ernst Steinman searched for the artist's psychological development through his Madonnas. In the deepening of insight and expression in the rendering of Mary's physiognomy, Steinman discerns proof of Savonarola's influence over Botticelli. This means that the biographer needed to alter the dates of a number of Madonnas to substantiate his theory. Specifically, they are dated ten years later than before. Steinman disagrees with Vasari's assertion that Botticelli produced nothing after coming under the influence of Girolamo Savanarola. Steinman believes the spiritual and emotional Virgins rendered by Sandro follow directly from the teachings of the Dominican monk.
Earlier, Botticelli had painted an Assumption of the Virgin for Matteo Palmieri in a chapel at San Pietro Maggiore in which, it was rumored, both the patron who dictated the iconic scheme and the painter who painted it, were guilty of unidentified , a delicate requirement in such a subject. The heretical notions seem to be in character: |
By the side door of San Piero Maggiore he did a panel for Matteo Palmieri, with a large number of figures representing the Assumption of Our Lady with zones of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, doctors, virgins, and the orders of angels, the whole from a design given to him by Matteo, who was a worthy and learned man. He executed this work with the greatest mastery and diligence, introducing the portraits of Matteo and his wife on their knees. But although the great beauty of this work could find no other fault with it, said that Matteo and Sandro were guilty of grave heresy. Whether this be true or not, I cannot say. (Giorgio Vasari)
This is a common misconception based on a mistake by Vasari. The painting referred to here, now in the in , is by the artist . Vasari confused their similar sounding names.
(): icon of the springtime renewal of the Florentine Renaissance, also at the summer palazzo of Pierfrancesco de' Medici, as a companion piece to the Birth of Venus and Pallas and the Centaur. Left to right: Mercury, the , Venus, , , . Notice the Venus figure at center resembles a Madonna, the tree branches about her head acting as a subtle halo - thereby demonstrating the neoplatonic fusion of paganism and Christianity - but faces are real portraits: for instance, the Grace on the right side is . Though comparatively few of Botticelli's mythological paintings survive, Primavera epitomises his use of classical mythology as a vehicle to illustrate sentiments actually derived from medieval courtly love. ('s book on the survival and new uses of pagan Antiquity in the Renaissance explores these themes.) Primavera can also be read as political allegory: Love (Amor) would be ("Roma" in Italian); the three Graces , and ; Mercury ; Flora ; May ; Cloris and Boreas and (or and ).
The Adoration of the Magi for Santa Maria Novella, c. 1476, contains portraits of ("the finest of all that are now extant for its life and vigour"), his grandson , and Cosimo's son , were effusively described by Vasari:
"The beauty of the heads in this scene is indescribable, their attitudes all different, some full-face, some in profile, some three-quarters, some bent down, and in various other ways, while the expressions of the attendants, both young and old, are greatly varied, displaying the artist's perfect mastery of his profession. Sandro further clearly shows the distinction between the suites of each of the kings. It is a marvellous work in colour, design and composition."
In , summoned him and prominent Florentine and Umbrian artists who had been summoned to fresco the walls of the . The iconological program was the supremacy of the Papacy. Sandro's contribution was moderately successful. He returned to Florence, and "being of a sophistical turn of mind, he there wrote a commentary on a portion of and illustrated the which he printed, spending much time over it, and this abstension from work led to serious disorders in his living." Thus Vasari characterized the first printed (1481) with Botticelli's decorations; he could not imagine that the new art of might occupy an artist. As for the subject, when Fra began to preach hellfire and damnation, the susceptible Sandro Botticelli became one of his adherents, a piagnone left painting as a worldly vanity, burned much of his own early work, fell into poverty as a result, and would have starved but for the tender support of his former patrons.
Anthology of works
(1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, 87 x 60 cm, Spedale degli Innocenti,
(1465-67) - Tempera on panel, 110 x 70 cm, Musйe Fesch,
(c. 1467) - Tempera on panel, 72 x 50 cm, ,
(1465-1470) - Tempera on panel, 85 x 62 cm, Galleria dell Accademia,
(1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, 50 x 136 cm, ,
(c. 1469) - Tempera on panel, 51 x 33,7 cm, ,
(1469-1470) - Tempera on panel, 120 x 65 cm, ,
(1469-1470) - Tempera on panel, 124 x 65 cm, ,
(c. 1468-1470) - Tempera on panel, 100 x 71 cm, ,
(1470-1475) - Tempera on panel, 65,7 x 41 cm, ,
(c. 1470) - Tempera on panel, 167 x 87 cm, ,
(c. 1470) - Tempera on panel, 170 x 194 cm, ,
(c. 1470) - Tempera on wood, 84 x 65 cm, ,
(1470- 1472) - Oil on panel, 31 x 24 cm, Uffizi, Florence
(1470-1472) - Tempera on wood, 31 x 25 cm, Uffizi, Florence
(1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, diameter 131,5 cm, ,
(c. 1475) - Tempera on panel, 61 x 40 cm, ,
(1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, 111 x 134 cm, Uffizi, Florence
() - Tempera on panel, 195 x 175 cm, ,
(c. 1474-1475) - Tempera on panel, 57,5 x 44 cm, Uffizi, Florence
(c. 1475) - Tempera on panel, 54 x 36 cm, ,
(c. 1475) - Tempera on panel, ,
Catherine of Alexandria, portrait of (c. 1475), Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg (De)
(1476-1477) - Tempera on panel, 75,6 x 36 cm, , ,
, (1476-1477) - Fresco, 200 x 300 cm, ,
() - Panel, 54 x 36 cm, ,
(c. 1478) - Tempera on panel, diameter 135 cm, ,
, () - Fresco, 152 x 112 cm, ,
(1480-1483) - Tempera on panel, diameter 118 cm, Uffizi, Florence
(c. 1480-1483) - Tempera on panel, 58 x 39,5 cm, ,
(1480-85) - Tempera on wood, 82 x 54 cm, ,
(after 1480) - Oil on panel, 47,5 x 35 cm, ,
() - Fresco, 243 x 550 cm, ,
() - Fresco, 210 x 80 cm, ,
(1481-1482) - Tempera on panel, 70 x 103 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington,
(1482-1483) - Tempera on canvas, 207 x 148 cm, ,
() - Tempera on panel, 69 x 173 cm, ,
(c. 1483) - Tempera on panel, 37,5 x 28,2 cm, National Gallery, London
(c. 1482-1483) - Tempera on panel, 41 x 31 cm, , ,
(c. 1483) - Tempera on panel, 83 x 138 cm, , Madrid]]
() - Tempera on panel, 185 x 180 cm, ,
(1484-1486) - Tempera on canvas, 184,5 x 285,5 cm, Uffizi, Florence
() - Tempera and gold on wood, 19,1 x 31,4 cm, ,
(c. 1487) - Tempera on panel, diameter 143,5 cm, Uffizi, Florence
(c. 1487-1488) - Tempera on panel, 268 x 280 cm, ,
(c. 1488) - Tempera on panel, 20 x 38 cm, Uffizi, Florence
(c. 1488) - Tempera on panel, 21 x 41 cm, Uffizi, Florence
(c. 1488) - Tempera on panel, 21 x 40,5 cm, Uffizi, Florence
(c. 1488) - Tempera on panel, 21 x 40,5 cm, Uffizi, Florence
(1489-1490) - Tempera on panel, 150 x 156 cm, ,
(c. 1490)- Tempera on panel, diameter 59,6 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington
(c. 1490) - Tempera on panel, 140 x 207 cm, ,
(c. 1490) - Tempera on canvas transferred from wood, 49 x 35 cm, Private collection
(1490-1492) - Tempera on panel, 378 x 258 cm (pala) and 21 x 269 cm (entire predella) Uffizi, Florence
(1490-1494) - Tempera on panel, 41 x 27 cm cm, ,
(1490-1495) - Tempera on canvas, 134 x 92 cm, , Florence]]
(1490-1495) - Tempera on panel, 50 x 36,5 cm, ,
(1491-1493) - Tempera on panel, 215 x192 cm, ,
(c. 1493) - Tempera on panel, diameter 65 cm, ,
(1494-1495) - Tempera on panel, 62 x 91 cm, ,
(c. 1495) - Tempera on panel, 107 x 71 cm, ,
(c. 1495) - Tempera on panel, 34,5 x 25,4 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(c. 1495) - Tempera on canvas, 54,7 x 47,5 cm, Private collection
(1496-1504) - Tempera on panel, 85 x 165 cm, ,
(1496-1504) - Tempera on panel, 83,5 x 180 cm, ,
(c. 1497) - Tempera on canvas, 73,5 x 50,8 cm, , ,
(c. 1500) - Tempera on panel, 47,6 x 32,3 cm, , ,
(c. 1500) - Tempera on panel, 27,5 x 35,5 cm,ah, and i just got bit by a lestat,,
(1495-1500) - Tempera on panel, 36,5 x 20 cm, ,
(c. 1500) - Tempera on panel, 53 x 35 cm]], ,
(c. 1500) - Tempera on canvas, 108,5 x 75 cm, National Gallery, London
(1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 66,5 x 149,5 cm, ,
(1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 65 x 139,5 cm, ,
(1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 67 x 150,5 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 66 x 182 cm, ,
References in popular culture
Botticelli's name surfaced in popular culture in connection with the 2003 bestselling novel , which made a claim that a secret society known as the was a factual society. In actuality, the Priory was a hoax concocted in the 1950s by a French to the throne, who had caused a large quantity of medieval documents to be forged and planted in different locations around France. One set of these documents, , planted in the French National Library, listed Botticelli as one of the Grand Masters of the Priory, and this claim was repeated in the 1982 book , which was used as source material for The Da Vinci Code. Because of the novel's popularity and resulting confusion about its "facts", many debunking books and documentaries were created, which again brought up Botticelli's name to try and clear things up. It is true that Botticelli and (also listed as a Grand Master of the Priory of Sion) were both students at the Florence workshop of , but they had no association with any "Priory of Sion", which is nothing but a 20th century hoax.
In the popular TV sitcom , Botticelli is mentioned along with other notable artists. In the episode To Tell the Truth, Niles compliments Roz's baby pictures by declaring "Botticelli himself couldn't have painted a more perfect angel."
References
Knackfuss H., Monographs On Artists, VI. Botticelli by Ernst Steinman, Translated by Campbell Dodgson, New York, Lemcke & Huachner, 1901, Pg. 112.
, Life of Botticelli, November 19, 1904, Page BR783.
Da Vinci Declassified, 2006 documentary
Ullman, H., Sandro Botticelli, 1893
Yashiro, Y., Sandro Botticelli and the Florentine Renaissance, 1929
Lightbown, R., Sandro Botticelli: Life and Work, 1989

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