Botticelli, Sandro, real name Alessandro di Mariano
Filipepi, 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. Adoration of the Magi was painted on
commission (though not for the Medicis), and contains likenesses of the
Medici family. 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 and now in the Uffizi, 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,
Madonna of the Pomegranate, and Coronation of the Virgin, all in the
Uffizi, and Madonna and Child with Two Saints. Other religious works
include Saint Sebastian and a fresco, Saint Augustine. 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 and especially the Mystic Nativity and Mystic Crucifixion,
reflect an intense religious devotion. |
