"Map of Hell" by Botticelli (the story of one masterpiece)
To the great Florentine Dante from the great Florentine Botticelli, commissioned by the wealthy Florentine Lorenzo Medici. The "Divine Comedy" of the first inspired the second to create dozens of manuscripts with the money of the third, illustrating in detail the literary masterpiece of the XIV century. Of greatest interest is a kind of infographic of Hell - a map, following which the heroes of the "Divine Comedy" can be seen in detail the torment to which sinners are subjected. The sight is not for the faint of heart.
Plot
Botticelli depicted Hell as a funnel. Unbaptized infants and virtuous non-Christians in limbo are given over to painless grief; voluptuaries who have fallen into the second circle for lust endure torment and torment by a hurricane; the gluttons in the third circle rot in the rain and hail; misers and spendthrifts drag weights from place to place in the fourth round; the angry and lazy always fight in the swamps of the fifth circle; heretics and false prophets lie in fiery graves on the sixth; all kinds of rapists, depending on the object of abuse, are tormented in different zones of the seventh circle - they boil in a ditch of red-hot blood, are tormented by harpies, or languish in the desert under a fiery rain; deceivers of those who do not trust languish in the crevices of the eighth circle: some are stuck in fetid feces, some boil in tar, some are chained, some are tormented by reptiles, some are gutted; and the ninth circle is prepared for those who deceived. Among the latter is Lucifer frozen into the ice, who torments in his three mouths traitors to the majesty of the earthly and heavenly (Judas, Mark Junius Brutus and Cassius - the traitors of Jesus and Caesar, respectively).
Here you can see in detail the torment of sinners. The emotions and feelings of each of the characters are written out in detail.
The map of Hell was part of a large commission - illustrating the Divine Comedy by Dante. The exact dates of the creation of the manuscripts are unknown. Researchers agree that Botticelli began work on them in the mid-1480s and, with some interruptions, was occupied with them until the death of the customer, Lorenzo the Magnificent Medici.
Not all pages have survived. Presumably, there should be about 100 of them, 92 manuscripts have come down to us, of which four are fully colored. Several pages of text or numbers are blank, suggesting that Botticelli did not complete the work. Most are sketches. At that time, paper was expensive, and the artist could not just take and throw away a sheet with a failed sketch. Therefore, Botticelli first worked with a silver needle, squeezing out a drawing. Some manuscripts show how the idea changed: from the composition as a whole to the position of individual figures. Only when the artist was satisfied with the sketch did he outline the outlines in ink.
On the reverse side of each illustration, Botticelli indicated the text of Dante, which explained the drawing.
Context
The Divine Comedy is a kind of Dante's response to the events of his own life. Having failed in the political struggle in Florence and being expelled from his native city, he devoted himself to enlightenment and self-education, including the study of ancient authors. It is no coincidence that Virgil, the ancient Roman poet, is the guide in the Divine Comedy.
The dark forest in which the hero got lost is a metaphor for the poet's sins and searches. Virgil (mind) saves the hero (Dante) from terrible beasts (mortal sins) and leads him through Hell to Purgatory, after which Beatrice (divine grace) gives way on the threshold of paradise.
The fate of the artist
Botticelli was from a family of jewelers and had to deal in gold and other precious metals. However, the boy liked to make sketches and draw much more. Plunging into the world of fantasy, Sandro forgot about his surroundings. He turned life into art, and art became life for him.
"Spring" Botticelli, 1482
Among his contemporaries, Botticelli was not perceived as a brilliant master. Yes, good artist. But that was the period when many masters who later became famous masters worked. For the 15th century, Sandro Botticelli was a reliable master who could be entrusted with painting frescoes or illustrating books, but by no means a genius.
"Birth of Venus" Botticelli, 1484−1486
Botticelli was patronized by the Medici, famous connoisseurs of art. It is believed that while the painter spent the last years of his life almost in poverty. however, there is evidence that Botticelli was not as poor as he wanted to appear. However, he did not have his own home or family. The very idea of marriage frightened him.
After meeting the monk Girolamo Savonarola, who in his sermons convincingly called for repentance and abandoning the charms of earthly life, Botticelli completely fell into asceticism. The artist died at the age of 66 in Florence, where his ashes still rest today in the cemetery of the Church of All Saints.
In the form of a funnel. Unbaptized infants and virtuous non-Christians in limbo are given over to painless grief; voluptuaries who have fallen into the second circle for lust endure torment and torment by a hurricane; the gluttons in the third circle rot in the rain and hail; misers and spendthrifts drag weights from place to place in the fourth round; the angry and lazy always fight in the swamps of the fifth circle; heretics and false prophets lie in fiery graves on the sixth; all kinds of rapists, depending on the object of abuse, are tormented in different zones of the seventh circle - they boil in a ditch of red-hot blood, are tormented by harpies, or languish in the desert under a fiery rain; deceivers of those who do not trust languish in the crevices of the eighth circle: some are stuck in fetid feces, some boil in tar, some are chained, some are tormented by reptiles, some are gutted; and the ninth circle is prepared for those who deceived. Among the latter is Lucifer frozen into the ice, who torments in his three mouths traitors to the majesty of the earthly and heavenly (Judas, Mark Junius Brutus and Cassius - the traitors of Jesus and Caesar, respectively).
The map of Hell was part of a large commission - illustrating the Divine Comedy by Dante. The exact dates of the creation of the manuscripts are unknown. Researchers agree that Botticelli began work on them in the mid-1480s and, with some interruptions, was occupied with them until the death of the customer, Lorenzo the Magnificent Medici.
Fragment of the map of hell. (wikipedia.org)
Not all pages have survived. Presumably, there should be about 100 of them, 92 manuscripts have come down to us, of which four are fully colored. Several pages of text or numbers are blank, suggesting that Botticelli did not complete the work. Most are sketches. At that time, paper was expensive, and the artist could not just take and throw away a sheet with a failed sketch. Therefore, Botticelli first worked with a silver needle, squeezing out a drawing. Some manuscripts show how the idea changed: from the composition as a whole to the position of individual figures. Only when the artist was satisfied with the sketch did he outline the outlines in ink.
Torment of sinners. (wikipedia.org)
On the reverse side of each illustration, Botticelli indicated the text of Dante, which explained the drawing.
Context
"" is a kind of response to the events of his own life. Having failed in the political struggle in Florence and being expelled from his native city, he devoted himself to enlightenment and self-education, including the study of ancient authors. It is no coincidence that Virgil, the ancient Roman poet, is the guide in the Divine Comedy.
The horrors of hell. (wikipedia.org)
The dark forest in which the hero got lost is a metaphor for the poet's sins and searches. Virgil (mind) saves the hero (Dante) from terrible beasts (mortal sins) and leads him through Hell to Purgatory, after which Beatrice (divine grace) gives way on the threshold of paradise.
The suffering of sinners. (wikipedia.org)
The fate of the artist
Botticelli was from a tanner's family, as a teenager he was apprenticed to a jeweler. However, the boy liked to sketch and draw much more. Plunging into the world of fantasy, Sandro forgot about his surroundings. He turned life into art, and art became life for him.
"Spring", 1482. (wikipedia.org)
Among his contemporaries, Botticelli was not perceived as a brilliant master. Then, in general, the categories of genius did not think about contemporaries. The more orders, the higher the aristocracy valued the artist. And Botticelli survived both the rise, when his workshop was extremely busy, and the Pope himself invited him to paint the Sistine Chapel, and the fall, when the aristocracy turned away from the beautiful Sandro.
"The Birth of Venus", 1484−1486. (wikipedia.org)
Botticelli was patronized by the Medici, famous connoisseurs of art. Vasari writes in his biography that the last years the painter spent as a decrepit, impoverished old man, but this is not so.
A significant influence on the artist was his acquaintance with the monk Girolamo Savonarola, who in his sermons convincingly called for repentance and giving up luxury. After the monk was found guilty of heresy, Botticelli practically closed himself off from the world in his workshop. In recent years, he worked little, suffering in soul and body. The artist died at the age of 66 in Florence.
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Mar. 5, 2016
02:09 pm - MORE HELL. Who to look for in Botticelli's illustration for The Divine Comedy
The illustration is based on a frame from the TV movie De Goddelijke Komedie van Dante en Inferno van Dan Brown, 2013
We descend into the depths of Dante's hell and make an overview of the habits and entertainments of its inhabitants.
So, what to do in Botticelli hell?
The Early Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli (1440-1510) is best known for his radiant portraits of unidentified young people, very reminiscent of modern model tests, and only then for his heavy canvases on a religious theme. In one of these paintings, Botticelli depicted the structure of Dante's hell. Let's try to take a quick look around in this detailed universe without resorting to art history zaum.
The artist completed this work in 1480. It is currently kept in the Vatican Library.
Why it will be easy for you to understand Botticelli
1. "Hell" was created as a penance, but not in a high sense. In fact, the artist had a cheerful disposition, he most of all liked to paint beautiful girls and boys. But it was in deep hell that Botticelli found himself, having spent all the money earned in the service of the Pope on excesses and superficial hobbies. I had to go home, read Dante, think a lot.
2. The picture became especially popular already in the 21st century, when pop novelist Dan Brown made “Hell” a cipher in his next bestseller about ancient ciphers “Inferno”. So the illustration for one book became the hero of another.
3. Of all the Western conceptions of hell, this Mediterranean version is closest to our cultural code. Here, of course, there is a Purgatory alien to an Orthodox person, but the punishments and torments of sinners are already depicted in detail, which was not in earlier versions, and which is not too convexly depicted in the deserted and endlessly dull Mephistopheles hell. Plus, funnel shape!
4. The artist pays special attention to the punishment of corrupt officials. They are tormented in the eighth circle by unpleasant entities with spears, which, by the way, are also doomed to eternal torment in this place. Everyone is equal here: both high-ranking former laymen and, in fact, devils also suffer. Just because they are the devil.
5. Botticelli's "Hell" is essentially a comic book. And his main characters are himself and the poet Virgil. They, elegant, are depicted many times, as in the animation. Their visions are typical for creative people and tough guys in general: the journey begins with the spectacle of demon-tormented souls of pimps, informers, opportunists and prostitutes floundering in the mud.
Circle One. Limbo
Not baptized babies, pagans and lovers of the latest religious movements, but also ancient poets and thinkers gathered here: Homer, Plato, Socrates. The Old Testament righteous Noah and Abraham waited here for their turn to Paradise.
Circle Two. voluptuousness
Those who have sinned in the name of love or confused it with banal lust have gathered here. The souls of sinners are twisted by gusts of wind, as in a centrifuge. Everyone is tired.
Circle Three. Gluttony
Gluttons rot here in the snow and rain, contemplating their behavior. But all to no avail - Cerberus comes and eats loaded sinners.
Circle Four. Greed
The souls of greedy people are busy with meaningless work: two crowds of sinners are pushing heavy loads in front of them, moving towards each other. Collide and then diverge to start over.
Circle Fifth. Anger and laziness
Recently, you can justify your incontinence and licentiousness with increased emotionality. Those who did this will forever fight with their own kind in the endless swamp in Dante's hell.
Circle Six. Heretics and pseudo-gurus
Furies are flying all over the place. They watch over false teachers and prophets who, crushed by inescapable grief, lie motionless in open tombs.
Circle Seven. Murderers
Criminal souls of all stripes, who committed violent crimes during their lifetime, are forever tormented by the fiery rain and boil in the bloody river. Periodically, hungry dogs and harpies are connected to the execution of punishments.
Circle Eight. Rogues and thieves
“Sinners go in two oncoming streams, scourged by demons, stuck in fetid feces, some bodies are chained in rocks, fire flows down their feet. Someone boils in tar, and if he sticks his head out, the devils pierce the gaffs. Those chained in lead robes are put on a red-hot brazier, sinners are gutted and tormented by reptiles, leprosy and lichen. Exhaustive.
Circle Nine. Traitors and apostates
This is the lowest circle, chained in ice. Here is an unbearable minus. All famous traitors like Brutus and Judas are endlessly chewed on by Lucifer himself.
He languishes on the lowest floor.
The Early Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli (1440-1510) is best known for his radiant portraits of unidentified young people, very reminiscent of modern model tests, and only then for his heavy canvases on a religious theme. In one of these paintings, Botticelli depicted the structure of Dante's hell. Let's try to take a quick look around in this detailed universe without resorting to art history zaum.
The artist completed this work in 1480. It is currently kept in the Vatican Library.
Why it will be easy for you to understand Botticelli
1. "Hell" was created as a penance, but not in a high sense. In fact, the artist had a cheerful disposition, he most of all liked to paint beautiful girls and boys. But it was in deep hell that Botticelli found himself, having spent all the money earned in the service of the Pope on excesses and superficial hobbies. I had to go home, read Dante, think a lot.
2. The picture became especially popular already in the 21st century, when pop novelist Dan Brown made “Hell” a cipher in his next bestseller about ancient ciphers “Inferno”. So the illustration for one book became the hero of another.
3. Of all the Western conceptions of hell, this Mediterranean version is closest to our cultural code. Here, of course, there is a Purgatory alien to an Orthodox person, but the punishments and torments of sinners are already depicted in detail, which was not in earlier versions, and which is not too convexly depicted in the deserted and endlessly dull Mephistopheles hell. Plus, funnel shape!
4. The artist pays special attention to the punishment of corrupt officials. They are tormented in the eighth circle by unpleasant entities with spears, which, by the way, are also doomed to eternal torment in this place. Everyone is equal here: both high-ranking former laymen and, in fact, devils also suffer. Just because they are the devil.
5. Botticelli's "Hell" is essentially a comic book. And his main characters are himself and the poet Virgil. They, elegant, are depicted many times, as in the animation. Their visions are typical for creative people and tough guys in general: the journey begins with the spectacle of demon-tormented souls of pimps, informers, opportunists and prostitutes floundering in the mud.
Poet and artist in society Tour of 9 circles
View map Circle One. Limbo
Not baptized babies, pagans and lovers of the latest religious movements, but also ancient poets and thinkers gathered here: Homer, Plato, Socrates. The Old Testament righteous Noah and Abraham waited here for their turn to Paradise.
Circle Two. voluptuousness
Those who have sinned in the name of love or confused it with banal lust have gathered here. The souls of sinners are twisted by gusts of wind, as in a centrifuge. Everyone is tired.
Circle Three. Gluttony
Gluttons rot here in the snow and rain, contemplating their behavior. But all to no avail - Cerberus comes and eats loaded sinners.
Circle Four. Greed
The souls of greedy people are busy with meaningless work: two crowds of sinners are pushing heavy loads in front of them, moving towards each other. Collide and then diverge to start over.
Circle Fifth. Anger and laziness
Recently, you can justify your incontinence and licentiousness with increased emotionality. Those who did this will forever fight with their own kind in the endless swamp in Dante's hell.
Circle Six. Heretics and pseudo-gurus
Furies are flying all over the place. They watch over false teachers and prophets who, crushed by inescapable grief, lie motionless in open tombs.
Circle Seven. Murderers
Criminal souls of all stripes, who committed violent crimes during their lifetime, are forever tormented by the fiery rain and boil in the bloody river. Periodically, hungry dogs and harpies are connected to the execution of punishments.
Circle Eight. Rogues and thieves
“Sinners go in two oncoming streams, scourged by demons, stuck in fetid feces, some bodies are chained in rocks, fire flows down their feet. Someone boils in tar, and if he sticks his head out, the devils pierce the gaffs. Chained in lead robes are placed on a red-hot brazier, sinners are gutted and tormented by reptiles, leprosy and lichen.. Exhaustive.
Circle Nine. Traitors and apostates
This is the lowest circle, chained in ice. Here is an unbearable minus. All famous traitors like Brutus and Judas are endlessly chewed on by Lucifer himself. He languishes on the lowest floor. 
Live Journal Media, 2016
To the great Florentine Dante from the great Florentine Botticelli, commissioned by the wealthy Florentine Lorenzo Medici. The "Divine Comedy" of the first inspired the second to create dozens of manuscripts with the money of the third, illustrating in detail the literary masterpiece of the XIV century. Of greatest interest is a kind of infographic of Hell - a map, following which the heroes of the "Divine Comedy" can be seen in detail the torment to which sinners are subjected. The sight is not for the faint of heart.
Plot
Botticelli depicted Hell as a funnel. Unbaptized infants and virtuous non-Christians in limbo are given over to painless grief; voluptuaries who have fallen into the second circle for lust endure torment and torment by a hurricane; the gluttons in the third circle rot in the rain and hail; misers and spendthrifts drag weights from place to place in the fourth round; the angry and lazy always fight in the swamps of the fifth circle; heretics and false prophets lie in fiery graves on the sixth; all kinds of rapists, depending on the object of abuse, are tormented in different belts of the seventh circle - they boil in a ditch of red-hot blood, are tormented by harpies, or languish in the desert under a fiery rain; deceivers of those who do not trust languish in the crevices of the eighth circle: some are stuck in fetid feces, some boil in tar, some are chained, some are tormented by reptiles, some are gutted; and the ninth circle is prepared for those who deceived. Among the latter is Lucifer, frozen into the ice, who torments in his three jaws the traitors to the majesty of the earthly and heavenly (Judas, Mark Junius Brutus and Cassius - the traitors of Jesus and Caesar, respectively).
The map of Hell was part of a large commission - illustrating the Divine Comedy by Dante. The exact dates of the creation of the manuscripts are unknown. Researchers agree that Botticelli began work on them in the mid-1480s and, with some interruptions, was occupied with them until the death of the customer - Lorenzo the Magnificent Medici.
Not all pages have survived. Presumably, there should be about 100 of them, 92 manuscripts have come down to us, of which four are fully colored. Several pages of text or numbers are blank, suggesting that Botticelli did not complete the work. Most of them are sketches. At that time, paper was expensive, and the artist could not just take and throw away a sheet with a failed sketch. Therefore, Botticelli first worked with a silver needle, squeezing out a drawing. Some manuscripts show how the idea changed: from the composition as a whole to the position of individual figures. Only when the artist was satisfied with the sketch did he outline the outlines in ink.
On the reverse side of each illustration, Botticelli indicated the text of Dante, which explained the drawing.
Context
The Divine Comedy is a kind of Dante's response to the events of his own life. Having failed in the political struggle in Florence and being expelled from his native city, he devoted himself to enlightenment and self-education, including the study of ancient authors. It is no coincidence that Virgil, the ancient Roman poet, is the guide in the Divine Comedy.
The dark forest in which the hero got lost is a metaphor for the poet's sins and searches. Virgil (mind) saves the hero (Dante) from terrible beasts (mortal sins) and leads him through Hell to Purgatory, after which Beatrice (divine grace) gives way on the threshold of paradise.
The fate of the artist
Botticelli was from a family of jewelers and had to deal in gold and other precious metals. However, the boy liked to make sketches and draw much more. Plunging into the world of fantasy, Sandro forgot about his surroundings. He turned life into art, and art became life for him.
Among his contemporaries, Botticelli was not perceived as a brilliant master. Yes, good artist. But that was the period when many masters who later became famous masters worked. For the 15th century, Sandro Botticelli was a reliable master who could be entrusted with painting frescoes or illustrating books, but by no means a genius.
Botticelli was patronized by the Medici, famous connoisseurs of art. It is believed that while the painter spent the last years of his life almost in poverty. however, there is evidence that Botticelli was not as poor as he wanted to appear. However, he did not have his own home or family. The very idea of marriage frightened him.
After meeting the monk Girolamo Savonarola, who in his sermons convincingly called for repentance and abandoning the delights of earthly life, Botticelli completely fell into asceticism. The artist died at the age of 66 in Florence, where his ashes still rest today in the cemetery of the Church of All Saints.
