— Sandro Botticelli, born Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, is considered one of the leading painters of the Florentine Renaissance. He developed a highly personal style characterized by elegant execution, a sense of melancholy, and a strong emphasis on line; details appear as sumptuous still lifes.
Botticelli was born in Florence, the son of a tanner. His nickname was derived from Botticello (“little barrel”), either the nickname of his elder brother or the name of the goldsmith to whom Sandro was first apprenticed. Later he served an apprenticeship with the painter Fra Filippo Lippi. He worked with the painter and engraver Antonio del Pollaiuolo, from whom he gained his sense of line; he was also influenced by Andrea del Verrocchio.
Botticelli had his own workshop by 1470. He spent almost all of his life working for the great families of Florence, especially the Medici family, for whom he painted portraits, most notably the Giuliano de' Medici (1476). Adoration of the Magi (1477) was painted on commission (though not for the Medicis), and contains likenesses of the Medici family as well as a likeness of himself. As part of the brilliant intellectual and artistic circle at the court of Lorenzo de' Medici, Botticelli was influenced by its Christian Neoplatonism, which tried to reconcile classical and Christian views. This synthesis may be the theme of two larger panels commissioned for Medici villas, Primavera (1478?) and Birth of Venus (after 1482). While scholars have not yet conclusively deciphered these paintings, their slender elegant figures, which form abstract linear patterns bathed in soft golden light, may depict Venus as a symbol of both pagan and Christian love.
Botticelli also painted religious subjects, especially panels of the Madonna, such as the Madonna of the Magnificat (1485), Madonna of the Pomegranate (1486), and Coronation of the Virgin (1490), and Madonna and Child with Two Saints (1485). Other religious works include Saint Sebastian (1474) and a fresco, Saint Augustine (1480). In 1481 Botticelli was one of several artists chosen to go to Rome to decorate the walls of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. There he executed The Youth of Moses, the Punishment of the Sons of Corah, and the Temptation of Christ.
In the 1490s, when the Medici were expelled from Florence and the fanatic Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola preached austerity and reform, Botticelli experienced a religious crisis. His subsequent works, such as the Pietà (early 1492) and especially the Mystic Nativity (1495) and Mystic Crucifixion (1496), reflect an intense religious devotion.
Botticelli's studio assistants included Jacopo del Sellaio.
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— Alessandro Botticelli was born in Florence, the fourth son of Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, a tanner. Alessandro's nickname was derived from the one given to his eldest brother Giovanni, who, because of his corpulence, was called “Il Botticello” (little barrel). It is believed that Botticelli was apprenticed as a goldsmith before being sent, probably in the beginning of the 1460s, to Fra Filippo Lippi in order to study painting.
Since 1470, Botticelli ran his own workshop in Florence and, in 1472, he became a member of the St. Luke's Guild. His early woks were mostly small religious pieces. In 1470, he was commissioned to paint Fortitude (1470) for the Florentine Tribunate di Mercatanzia. In 1474, his first monumental work St. Sebastian (1474) was mounted on a pillar in the Florentine church of Santa Maria Maggiore. He painted Adoration of the Magi (1475), on which he depicted members of Medici clan, the ruling family of the Florence, also his Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici (1477) was well known. He had a lasting fame as a painter of Madonnas. Among his best are Madonna and Child with Eight Angels (Tondo Raczynski) (1478), Madonna del Libro (1480), Madonna of the Magnificat (1481), Madonna of the Pomegranate (1487), Madonna del Padiglione (1493).
In 1480, Botticelli was commissioned to paint the fresco St. Augustine (1480) for the Ognissanti church. At that period he also created another fresco, which did not survived. In 1481, Botticelli was commissioned along with Domenico Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosseli and Pierro Perugino by Pope Sixtus IV to decorate his cappella magna, which was later named the Sistine Chapel after him, with frescos. He created The Temptation of Christ (1482), Scenes from the Life of Moses (1482) and The Punishment of Korah (1482).
In the next years he painted The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti (1483), a series of 4 frescos based on the novella in Boccaccio's Decameron for the decoration of the Pucci villa, and his most famous mythologic works Primavera (1482) and The Birth of Venus (1485). He created several great altarpieces for Florentine churches, such as Virgin and Child Enthroned between Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist (Bardi altarpiece) (1484), Virgin and Child with Four Angels and Six Saints (San Barnabas altarpiece) (1487), Coronation of the Virgin with the Saints John the Evangelist, Augustine, Jerome and Eligius. (San Marco altarpiece) (1492).
In the 1490s, Botticelli became influenced by the Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola, in whose sermons and writings he conjured up visions of the Apocalypse at the imminent turn of the century and warned people to repent and embrace asceticism. Botticelli's style became more severe and strict. In the late 1480s, the artist made illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy. Among his last known works are Calumny of Apelles (1495), The Story of Virginia (1504), The Story of Lucretia (1504), Mystic Nativity (1500) and St. Zenobius panels (1505). The last years of Botticelli's life are unknown. He died in Florence.
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— Birth of Venus (1485, 172x278cm) _ detail _ This was probably painted on behalf of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici or otherwise commissioned to be presented to him. In his villa at Castello, near Florence, the painting is documented at the half of the 16th century, as well as two other masterworks by Botticelli, the Primavera and Pallas and the Centaur. The scene represents Venus, born of the sea, being sped by Zephir towards land, where an Hour is ready to cover her with a beautiful cloack. This mythological subject was very important in Renaissance literature and philosopy, so the scene can hint different allegorical means. The canvas certainly reflects the presence of Botticelli among the Florentine humanistic circle and his study on classical sculpture, since this celebrated Venus recalls many ancient statues of the goddess.
— Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, the patron who commissioned this painting for his country villa, was a member of the rich and powerful family of the Medici. Either he himself, or one of his learned friends, probably explained to the painter what was known of the way the ancients had represented Venus rising from the sea. To these scholars the story of her birth was the symbol of mystery through which the divine message of beauty came into the world. One can imagine that the painter set to work reverently to represent this myth in a worthy manner. The action of the picture is quickly understood. Venus has emerged from the sea on a shell which is driven to the shore by flying wind-gods amidst a shower of roses. As she is about to step on to the land, one of the Hours or Nymphs receives her with a purple cloak. Botticelli's Venus is so beautiful that we do not notice the unnatural length of her neck, the steep fall of her shoulders and the queer way her left arm is hinged to the body. Or, rather, we should say that these liberties which Botticelli took with nature in order to achieve a graceful outline add to the beauty and harmony of the design because they enhance the impression of an infinitely gender and delicate being, wafted to our shores as a gift from Heaven.
— Primavera — Venus and Mars — Pallas and the Centaur
— Calumny of Apelles _ detail: Truth and Remorse
— Discovery of the Body of Holofernes (1472, 31x25cm) _ The picture was probably created in pendant with The Return of Judith; both of them are documented at the end of 16th century in medicean collections, where entered as a gift received by Bianca Cappello, the second wife of Grand Duke Francesco I. In Renaissance art the biblical story of Judith, the heroine who killed Holophernes oppressor of her people, was frequently selected to symbolize liberty and victory on tyranny.
— Return of Judith to Bethulia (1472, 31x24cm) _ The picture was probably created in pendant with The Discovery of the Murder of Holophernes; both of them are documented at the end of 16th century in Medicean collections, where entered as a gift received by Bianca Cappello, the second wife of Grand Duke Francesco I. The two panel paintings, which are both painted as finely as miniatures, would presumably have been extremely valuable pieces of art that would have been carefully stored away and occasionally brought out and put on view. In Renaissance art the biblical story of Judith, the heroine who killed Holophernes oppressor of her people, was frequently selected to symbolize liberty and victory on tyranny.
— Mystic Nativity (1501, 108x75cm) _ There is no documentary evidence to prove whether or not Botticelli was one of Savonarola's follower. But certain themes in his later works - like the Mystic Nativity - are certainly derived from the sermons of Savonarola, which means that the artist was definitely attracted by that personality so central to the cultural and political events of Florence during the last years of the fifteenth century.
It has been suggested that this picture, the only surviving work signed by Botticelli, was painted for his own private devotions, or for someone close to him. It is certainly unconventional, and does not simply represent the traditional events of the birth of Jesus and the adoration of the shepherds and the Magi or Wise Men. Rather it is a vision of these events inspired by the prophecies in the Revelation of Saint John. Botticelli has underlined the non-realism of the picture by including Latin and Greek texts, and by adopting the conventions of medieval art, such as discrepancies in scale, for symbolic ends. The Virgin Mary, adoring a gigantic infant Jesus, is so large that were she to stand she could not fit under the thatch roof of the stable. They are, of course, the holiest and the most important persons in the painting. The angels carry olive branches, which two of them have presented to the men they embrace in the foreground. These men, as well as the presumed shepherds in their short hooded garments on the right and the long-gowned Magi on the left, are all crowned with olive, an emblem of peace. The scrolls wound about the branches in the foreground, combined with some of those held by the angels dancing in the sky, read: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men' (Luke 2:14). As angels and men move ever closer, from right to left, to embrace, little devils scatter into holes in the ground. The scrolls held by the angels pointing to the crib once read: `Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world' the words of John the Baptist presenting Christ (John 1:29). Above the stable roof the sky has opened to reveal the golden light of paradise. Golden crowns hang down from the dancing angels' olive branches. Most of their scrolls celebrate Mary: 'Mother of God', 'Bride of God', 'Sole Queen of the World'.
The puzzling Greek inscription at the top of the picture has been translated: 'I Sandro made this picture at the conclusion of the year 1500 in the troubles of Italy in the half time after the time according to the 11th chapter of Saint John in the second woe of the Apocalypse during the loosing of the devil for three and a half years then he will be chained in the 12th chapter and we shall see [...] as in this picture.' The missing words may have been 'him burying himself'. The 'half time after the time' has been generally understood as a year and a half earlier, that is, in 1498, when the French invaded Italy, but it may mean a half millennium (500 years) after a millennium (1000 years): 1500, the date of the painting. Like the end of the millennium in the year 1000, the end of the half millennium in 1500 also seemed to many people to herald the Second Coming of Christ, prophesied in Revelation.
At a time when Florentine painters were recreating nature with their brush, Botticelli freely acknowledged the artificiality of art. In the pagan Venus and Mars he turned his back on naturalism in order to express ideal beauty. In the Mystic Nativity he went further, beyond the old-fashioned to the archaic, to express spiritual truths — rather like the Victorians who were to rediscover him in the nineteenth century, and who associated the Gothic style with an 'Age of Faith'.
— Daughters of Jethro
— Adoration by the Magi _ detail _ (1475, 111x134cm) _ The picture was commissioned by Guasparre di Zanobi del Lama for the Epiphany's chapel he made build in the Florentine church of Santa Maria Novella. This sacred scene is today very important because many figures portray features of members of the Medici family: Cosimo the Elder as the old king in front of the Child, his son Piero, called the Gouty, as the kneeling king with red mantle in the center, Lorenzo the Magnificent as the young man at his right, in profile, with a black and red mantle. The figure looking out at the spectator is probably the self-portrait of Botticelli. Restored in 1981
— Temptation of Christ _ (345x555cm) _ detail 1 :: background: Christ's threefold temptation by the Devil, as described in the Gospel according to Matthew, with the devil disguised as a hermit. At top left, up on the mountain, he is challenging Christ to turn stones into bread. _ detail 2 _ detail 3 _ detail 4 :: Among the crowd of people making up the Jewish sacrificial scene, a woman in the left-hand foreground who is carrying on her head a bowl with hens in it strikes us familiar. This figure is a copy of Abra, the maid in the small panel of The Return of Judith to Bethulia, which Botticelli had painted a decade before. The posture of the woman carrying wood in the right-hand foreground (this picture) may also be derived from this picture. These similarities lead to the assumption that Botticelli kept sketches of his compositions and figures so to have a stock of motifs upon which he could then draw his later pictorial creations. In contrast, Botticelli borrowed the small boy holding bunches of grape, and who has been frightened by a snake, from Hellenistic sculpture. _ detail 5 :: center: Christ and the Devil standing on a temple, with the Devil attempting to persuade Christ to cast himself down. _ detail 6 :: right-hand side: Satan is showing the Son of God the splendor of the world's riches, over which he is offering to make Him master. However, Christ drives away the Devil, who ultimately reveals his true devilish form. _ detail 7 _ This fresco, which Botticelli began in July 1481, is the third scene within the Christ cycle and depicts the Temptation of Christ. Christ's threefold temptation by the Devil, as described in the Gospel according to Matthew, can be seen in the background of the picture, with the devil disguised as a hermit. At top left, up on the mountain, he is challenging Christ to turn stones into bread; in the centre, we see the two standing on a temple, with the Devil attempting to persuade Christ to cast himself down; on the right-hand side, finally, he is showing the Son of God the splendor of the world's riches, over which he is offering to make Him master. However, Christ drives away the Devil, who ultimately reveals his true devilish form. On the right in the background, three angels have prepared a table for the celebration of the Eucharist, a scene which only becomes comprehensible when seen in conjunction with the event in the foreground of the fresco. The unity of these two events from the point of view of content is clarified by the reappearance of Christ with three angels in the middle ground on the left of the picture, where He is apparently explaining the incident occurring in the foreground to the heavenly messengers. We are concerned here with the celebration of a Jewish sacrifice, conducted daily before the Temple in accordance with ancient custom. The high priest is receiving the blood-filled sacrificial bowl, while several people are bringing animals and wood as offerings. At first sight, the inclusion of this Jewish sacrificial scene in the Christ cycle would appear extremely puzzling; however, its explanation may be found in the typological interpretation. The Jewish sacrifice portrayed here refers to the crucifixion of Christ, who through His death offered of His flesh and blood for the redemption of mankind. Christ's sacrifice is reconstructed in the celebration of the Eucharist, alluded to here by the gift table prepared by the angels.
— Pietà — Saint Barnabas Altarpiece — Coronation of the Virgin — Saint Dominic — Dante
— The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti by Bocaccio, illustrated by Botticelli
— The Annunciation (1485, 19x31cm) _ This picture is one of the jewels of 15th-century Italian art, embodying the achievements that made Florence so famous and influential. The classical architectural setting is carefully rendered in linear perspective, one of the great discoveries of Florentine artists. The figures of the Virgin and the archangel Gabriel, virtually mirror images of each other, are separated by the centre row of pillars, but they are subtly drawn together into a unified composition by the rays of light carrying God's message from heaven. The complex composition, as well as the lyrical quality of the drawing and the transparency of the colors, are characteristic of Botticelli's mature style.
— The Annunciation (1489, 150x156cm) _ This picture was painted for the church of the florentine convent of Cestello in borgo Pinti. The scene is notable for dramatic force suggested by the pose of the Virgin; the figures are placed inside a perspective space, open in the background on a beautiful landscape.
— Adoration by the Magi (1475, round, 132cm diameter)
