Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

:This article is about Sandro Botticelli, the
Italian painter.  See also Botticelli (game).

Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, better known as
Sandro Botticelli (Florence March 1, 1445 –
May 17, 1510) was an Italy|Italian painter of the
Florentine school during the Early Renaissance
(Quattrocento). Less than a hundred years later,
this movement, under the patronage of Lorenzo de'
Medici, was characterized by Giorgio Vasari as a
"golden age", a thought, suitably enough, he
expressed at the head of his Vita of Botticelli. 



Born in Florence 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 Fra Filippo Lippi 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
Antonio Pollaiuolo|Pollaiuolo brothers, who were
doing a series of Virtues for the Tribunale or
meeting hall of the Mercanzia, a cloth-merchants'
confraternity, and Botticello contributed to the
set the Fortitude, dated 1470 in the Uffizi
Gallery . He was an apprentice too of Andrea del
Verrocchio, where Leonardo da Vinci worked beside
him, but he made his name in his local Church of
Ognisanti, with a Saint Augustine of
Hippo|Augustine that successfully competed as a
pendant with Domenico Ghirlandaio's Jerome on the
other side "the head of the saint being expressive
of profound thought and quick subtlety" (Vasari) 
In 1470 he opened his own independent studio.

Lorenzo de' Medici was quick to employ his talent.
Botticelli made consistent use of the circular
tondo form and did many beautiful female nudes,
according to Vasari. The Birth of Venus 
(illustration, right) was at the Medici villa of
Castello.



He was influenced in his art by Fra Filippo Lippi
and Antonio Pollaiuolo. The repeated contacts with
the Medici family were undoubtedly useful for
granting him political protection and creating
conditions ideal for his production of several
masterpieces.

Sandro was intensely religious. In later life, he
was one of Savonarola's followers and burned his
own paintings on pagan themes in the notorious
"Bonfire of the Vanities". 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 heresy, a
delicate requirement in such a subject. The
heretical notions seem to be Gnosticism|gnostic 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." (Vasari)

This is a common misconception based on a mistake
by Vasari. The painting referred to here, now in
the National Gallery in London, is by the artist
Botticini. Vasari confused their similar sounding
names.


Though comparatively few of Botticelli's
mythological paintings survive, the Primavera
(illustration, left) epitmozes his use of
classical mythology as vehicles to illustrate the
sentiments that are actually derived from medieval
courtly love. (Jean Seznec's book on the survival
and new uses of pagan Antiquity in the Renaissance
explored these themes in depth.)
Sandro's commissioned Adoration of the Magi for
Santa Maria Novella, ca 1476, with the portraits
of Cosimo de' Medici ("the finest of all that are
now extant for its life and vigour"), his grandson
Giuliano di Piero de' Medici|Giuliano de' Medici,
and Cosimo's son Giovanni di Cosimo de'
Medici|Giovanni, 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, and the wonder and
admiration of all artists."

The Adoration brought Sandro such a reputation in
Florence and abroad that Pope Sixtus IV called him
to Rome in July 1481, part of a team of Florentine
and Umbrian artists who had been summoned to
fresco the walls of the Sistine Chapel, the
project where Renaissance painting arrived in
Rome. The iconological program was the supremacy
of the Papacy. Sandro did his job there, was well
paid by the Pope, spent all that he earned in his
characteristic generous impractical manner,
unveiled the paintings, which were a revelation to
Roman patrons and artists. But Botticelli didn't
stay to reap the benefits of the patronage in
papal circles that would have come his way; he
packed up his brushes and immediately returned to
Florence.

"Being of a sophistical turn of mind, he there
wrote a commentary on a portion of Dante
Alighieri|Dante and illustrated the Inferno 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 Dante Alighieri|Dante (1481) with
Botticelli's decorations; he could not imagine
that the new art of printing might occupy an
artist. As for the subject, when Fra Girolamo
Savonarola 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. 

== References ==
* Giorgio Vasari, Vite...: Botticelli

For an excellent monograph on Botticelli and a
catalogue of his works, see Ronald Lightbown
Sandro Botticelli, 2 vols. (London: Paul Elek,
1974)

For an easily accessible introduction to
Botticelli see Ettlinger, L.D. and Helen S.,
Botticelli (London:Thames and Hudson, 1976) or
Levey, M. and Mandel, G., The Complete Paintings
of Botticelli (London, 1970)

For the Botticelli/Botticini confusion see the
National Gallery catalogue: Davies, M., The
Earlier Italian Schools (London: National Gallery,
1961)

The most important monograph on Botticelli remains
Herbert Horne's Alessandro Filipepi, commonly
called Sandro Botticelli, painter of Florence
(London: G Bell and Sons, 1908), despite the fact
that it is nearly one hundred years old!

Walter Pater's essay on Botticelli of 1873 (in The
Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1998) remains an
excellent piece of art criticism and reveals much
of the 19th century attitude to this artist.

There remain many confusing opinions on the
subject of the Primavera. See the following for a
sample of the different ideas. Dempsey includes a
lucid introduction to the various schools of
thought.

Warburg, A., "The Primavera and Birth of Venus by
Botticelli" in The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity,
1999, pp.89-156..

Gombrich, E., "Botticelli's Mythologies: A Study
in the neo-Platonic Symbolism of his Circle", in 
Symbolic Images (1972), pp. 31-86.

Dempsey, C., The Portrayal of Love. Botticelli's
Primavera and Humanist Culture at the Time of
Lorenzo the Magnificent (Princeton,1992).

Wind, E., Pagan Mysteries of the Renaissance
(N.Y., 1968).

==External links==
*http://www.abcgallery.com/B/botticelli/botticelli
.html Sandro Botticelli at Olga's Gallery
*http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/botticel/
index.html Botticelli at Web Gallery of Art

==See also==
commonscat|Sandro Botticelli
* List of painters
* List of Italian painters
* List of famous Italians

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

:This article is about Sandro Botticelli, the
Italian painter.  See also Botticelli (game).

Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, better known as
Sandro Botticelli (Florence March 1, 1445 –
May 17, 1510) was an Italy|Italian painter of the
Florentine school during the Early Renaissance
(Quattrocento). Less than a hundred years later,
this movement, under the patronage of Lorenzo de'
Medici, was characterized by Giorgio Vasari as a
"golden age", a thought, suitably enough, he
expressed at the head of his Vita of Botticelli. 



Born in Florence 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 Fra Filippo Lippi 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
Antonio Pollaiuolo|Pollaiuolo brothers, who were
doing a series of Virtues for the Tribunale or
meeting hall of the Mercanzia, a cloth-merchants'
confraternity, and Botticello contributed to the
set the Fortitude, dated 1470 in the Uffizi
Gallery . He was an apprentice too of Andrea del
Verrocchio, where Leonardo da Vinci worked beside
him, but he made his name in his local Church of
Ognisanti, with a Saint Augustine of
Hippo|Augustine that successfully competed as a
pendant with Domenico Ghirlandaio's Jerome on the
other side "the head of the saint being expressive
of profound thought and quick subtlety" (Vasari) 
In 1470 he opened his own independent studio.

Lorenzo de' Medici was quick to employ his talent.
Botticelli made consistent use of the circular
tondo form and did many beautiful female nudes,
according to Vasari. The Birth of Venus 
(illustration, right) was at the Medici villa of
Castello.



He was influenced in his art by Fra Filippo Lippi
and Antonio Pollaiuolo. The repeated contacts with
the Medici family were undoubtedly useful for
granting him political protection and creating
conditions ideal for his production of several
masterpieces.

Sandro was intensely religious. In later life, he
was one of Savonarola's followers and burned his
own paintings on pagan themes in the notorious
"Bonfire of the Vanities". 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 heresy, a
delicate requirement in such a subject. The
heretical notions seem to be Gnosticism|gnostic 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." (Vasari)

This is a common misconception based on a mistake
by Vasari. The painting referred to here, now in
the National Gallery in London, is by the artist
Botticini. Vasari confused their similar sounding
names.


Though comparatively few of Botticelli's
mythological paintings survive, the Primavera
(illustration, left) epitmozes his use of
classical mythology as vehicles to illustrate the
sentiments that are actually derived from medieval
courtly love. (Jean Seznec's book on the survival
and new uses of pagan Antiquity in the Renaissance
explored these themes in depth.)
Sandro's commissioned Adoration of the Magi for
Santa Maria Novella, ca 1476, with the portraits
of Cosimo de' Medici ("the finest of all that are
now extant for its life and vigour"), his grandson
Giuliano di Piero de' Medici|Giuliano de' Medici,
and Cosimo's son Giovanni di Cosimo de'
Medici|Giovanni, 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, and the wonder and
admiration of all artists."

The Adoration brought Sandro such a reputation in
Florence and abroad that Pope Sixtus IV called him
to Rome in July 1481, part of a team of Florentine
and Umbrian artists who had been summoned to
fresco the walls of the Sistine Chapel, the
project where Renaissance painting arrived in
Rome. The iconological program was the supremacy
of the Papacy. Sandro did his job there, was well
paid by the Pope, spent all that he earned in his
characteristic generous impractical manner,
unveiled the paintings, which were a revelation to
Roman patrons and artists. But Botticelli didn't
stay to reap the benefits of the patronage in
papal circles that would have come his way; he
packed up his brushes and immediately returned to
Florence.

"Being of a sophistical turn of mind, he there
wrote a commentary on a portion of Dante
Alighieri|Dante and illustrated the Inferno 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 Dante Alighieri|Dante (1481) with
Botticelli's decorations; he could not imagine
that the new art of printing might occupy an
artist. As for the subject, when Fra Girolamo
Savonarola 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. 

== References ==
* Giorgio Vasari, Vite...: Botticelli

For an excellent monograph on Botticelli and a
catalogue of his works, see Ronald Lightbown
Sandro Botticelli, 2 vols. (London: Paul Elek,
1974)

For an easily accessible introduction to
Botticelli see Ettlinger, L.D. and Helen S.,
Botticelli (London:Thames and Hudson, 1976) or
Levey, M. and Mandel, G., The Complete Paintings
of Botticelli (London, 1970)

For the Botticelli/Botticini confusion see the
National Gallery catalogue: Davies, M., The
Earlier Italian Schools (London: National Gallery,
1961)

The most important monograph on Botticelli remains
Herbert Horne's Alessandro Filipepi, commonly
called Sandro Botticelli, painter of Florence
(London: G Bell and Sons, 1908), despite the fact
that it is nearly one hundred years old!

Walter Pater's essay on Botticelli of 1873 (in The
Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1998) remains an
excellent piece of art criticism and reveals much
of the 19th century attitude to this artist.

There remain many confusing opinions on the
subject of the Primavera. See the following for a
sample of the different ideas. Dempsey includes a
lucid introduction to the various schools of
thought.

Warburg, A., "The Primavera and Birth of Venus by
Botticelli" in The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity,
1999, pp.89-156..

Gombrich, E., "Botticelli's Mythologies: A Study
in the neo-Platonic Symbolism of his Circle", in 
Symbolic Images (1972), pp. 31-86.

Dempsey, C., The Portrayal of Love. Botticelli's
Primavera and Humanist Culture at the Time of
Lorenzo the Magnificent (Princeton,1992).

Wind, E., Pagan Mysteries of the Renaissance
(N.Y., 1968).

==External links==
*http://www.abcgallery.com/B/botticelli/botticelli
.html Sandro Botticelli at Olga's Gallery
*http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/botticel/
index.html Botticelli at Web Gallery of Art

==See also==
commonscat|Sandro Botticelli
* List of painters
* List of Italian painters
* List of famous Italians