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Paintings by sandro botticelli with titles. The two most famous paintings by Botticelli

Paintings by sandro botticelli with titles. The two most famous paintings by Botticelli

15.02.2019

Portrait of a young woman - Sandro Botticelli. 1480-1485. Poplar, tempera and oil. 82 x 54 cm

Witnesses of that time recall that Simonetta Vespucci (and it is she who is depicted in the presented portrait) was perhaps the most beautiful woman of her time. She was admired by ladies, and, of course, men, and poor artists like Botticelli, and generous rulers, such as the brothers Lorenzo and Giuliano Medici. “Incomparable”, “Incomparable”, “Beautiful Simonetta” - these laudatory epithets addressed to the heroine of the portrait have survived to our times.

Sandro Botticelli was not closely acquainted with the main muse of his work, namely, we see her on the canvases, but this did not stop the painter from admiring her beauty. She never posed for the master - he always recreated her image from memory, and many works were written after the death of the fatal beauty of the Renaissance (Simonetta passed away at the age of 23 from consumption). Approximately 5-9 years after tragic event, in the period from 1480 to 1485 this wonderful portrait was also created.

Appears before the viewer beautiful profile young girl. A graceful silhouette, painted with care and attention to every detail, a reference to the traditional portraits of Filippo Lippi. However, Botticelli managed to psychologize his image even within the framework of a fairly strict tradition. Having created a certain ideal image from his model, the painter nevertheless encrypted references to the personality of the person being portrayed. You just need to be able to see them.

The look of the heroine is attentive and serious. Historians have not yet come to an unambiguous conclusion whether the girl was Giuliano Medici's mistress or only allowed herself to proudly carry the title of "lady of the heart", according to the traditions of "courtly love" of that time. Although there is a hint of the Medici here - this is a necklace with a medallion around the neck of Madame Vespucci. It has been proven that the cameo in the medallion belonged to the Medici gem collection. Recalcitrant curls can also be a hint of the passionate nature of Simonetta.

In fairness, it should be noted that the personality of the heroine of Botticelli's painting is the guesswork of art historians of a later period, because the master himself never mentioned the name of his muses-inspirers. Regarding this work, there is another unexpected opinion that the painting does not belong to Sandro the Barrel at all, but was made by his contemporary Jacopo Del Sellaio or some other artist from the Botticelli workshop.

One way or another, we want to believe that the inimitable Simonetta is depicted on this canvas and none other than great italian Botticelli. So be it…

The heyday of Sandro Botticelli's creativity falls on the period of his service at the court of Lorenzo Medici, the uncrowned ruler of Florence. Simonetta Vespucci was considered the first beauty at the ducal court at that time. Despite the fact that she was married to the cousin of the famous traveler Amerigo Vespucci - Marco, rumor attributed to her love affair with Giuliano Medici younger brother Lorenzo the Magnificent. However, it is quite possible that between them there was only a sublime, platonic feeling.

It was the beautiful Simonetta, who suddenly passed away at the age of 22, who became the muse of the great Botticelli and the prototype of the heroines of his paintings. There is a version that the artist was secretly and hopelessly in love with her, not without reason he bequeathed to bury himself near the grave of the beauty. The image of Simonetta Vespucci is inspired by the 2 most Sandro Botticelli - "Spring" and "The Birth of Venus".

The allegorical painting "Spring" is perhaps the most complex of the artist's works. Her composition is made up of several groups connected by internal movement and forming a single scene. Venus herself is depicted in the center of a wonderful spring garden. The goddess looks pensive and a little sad. A winged Cupid soars above her head, aiming from his bow at one of the dancing graces.

The three graces whirling in the dance are Beauty, Chastity and Delight. They embody the sublime, spiritual hypostasis of the goddess of love. They are opposed by another group of characters, symbolizing earthly love. This is the wind god Zephyr, the young nymph Chloris and her new incarnation - the goddess of spring and flowers Flora. Another character in the picture is God common sense Mercury. He opposes the goddess of love Venus, but clearly loses to her.

A clearer composition distinguishes another masterpiece of the great master - "The Birth of Venus", which has become one of the most famous paintings in the world. The artist showed how the goddess of love, born from sea foam, floats to the shore on a huge sea shell. Zephyrs urge her on with their breath, and the goddess Ora waits on the shore with a veil in her hands. The whole path of the beautiful Venus is strewn with roses, because the rose that gave birth with the goddess is beautiful like love itself, and its thorns remind of love torments.

Sadly, in the last years of Botticelli's life, his fame faded, and after his death he fell into oblivion. Only thanks to the famous English art historian John Ruskin and a group of Pre-Raphaelite artists, at the end of the 19th century, his work was rediscovered for the public.

Plot basis

The plot of the painting "Spring" Sandro Botticelli borrowed from two ancient Roman poets - Ovid and Lucretius. Ovid spoke about the origin of the goddess of spring and flowers Flora. The once young beauty was not a goddess, but a nymph named Chloris. Zephyr, the god of the wind, saw her and fell in love with her and forcibly took her as his wife. Then, to atone for his mad impulse, he turned his beloved into a goddess and gave her a delightful garden. It is in this garden that the action of the great painting by Botticelli unfolds. As for Lucretius, the great master of Renaissance painting found the idea for creating the composition of "Spring" from him.

The figures depicted in the picture contain many meanings. First of all, they symbolize the spring months. Zephyr, Chloris and Flora - this is March, because spring brings the first breath of the Zephyr wind. Venus with Cupid soaring above her, as well as graces whirling in a dance - April. The son of the goddess Maya Mercury is May.

History of creation

One of his main masterpieces, Botticelli created by order of the all-powerful Duke of Florence, Lorenzo de' Medici. He needed her as a wedding present for his close relative Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco. Therefore, the symbolism of the picture is closely connected with the wish for a happy and virtuous family life.

Central images

Venus is presented here primarily as a virtuous goddess of conjugal love, which is why her appearance similar to the Madonna. Graceful graces are the embodiment of female virtues - Chastity, Beauty and Pleasure. Their long hair entwined with pearls symbolizing purity. Young Flora walks with a leisurely gait, throwing beautiful roses on her way. This is how it was customary to do at weddings. Above the head of the goddess of love, Venus, winged Cupid hovers blindfolded, because love is blind.

Almost all the female characters in the picture, primarily Venus and Flora, outwardly resemble the untimely deceased first beauty of Florence, Simonetta Vespucci. There is a version that the artist was secretly and hopelessly in love with her. Perhaps it was thanks to this reverent, chaste love that Botticelli managed to create such a sublime canvas.

The fate of a masterpiece

For a long time, "Spring" was kept in the house of Pierfrancesco. Until 1743, Botticelli's masterpiece belonged to the Medici family. In 1815, he was in the collection of the famous Uffizi Gallery. However, at that time the name of Sandro Botticelli was almost forgotten, and no attention was paid to the picture. Only in the second half of the 19th century, the English art historian John Ruskin rediscovered the work of the great Florentine, making it available to the general public. Today "Spring", along with another masterpiece by Botticelli - "The Birth of Venus", is one of the pearls of the gallery.

Influence of Filippo Lippi

The work of Filippo Lippi had a very great influence on Botticelli, and with a close look at the paintings of these artists, this influence is obvious. For example, a three-quarter turn of the face, the decorativeness of the pattern of draperies, hands, a tendency to detail, the lyricism of the created images. But the main thing is color. It kind of glows softly. Here, for comparison, are the paintings by F. Lippi and S. Botticelli.

F. Lippi. Altar of the Novitiate. Uffizi (Florence)

S. Botticelli "Madonna and Child with Two Angels" (1465-1470)
An interesting fact: at first Botticelli was a student of Lippi, and then the son of Lippi became a student of Botticelli.
The artists collaborated until 1467, and then their paths diverged: Filippo left for Spoleto, Botticelli stayed in Florence and opened his workshop there in 1470.

Works on religious and mythological themes (early works)

Botticelli was close to court Medici and humanist circles in Florence. And this was of great importance, because. The Medici, an oligarchic family, are known as patrons of the most prominent artists and architects of the Renaissance. Representatives of this family from the 13th to the 18th centuries. repeatedly became the rulers of Florence.
From the works of S. Botticelli of the second half of the 15th century. I would like to highlight a few.

S. Botticelli. Diptych about the story of Judith

Judith- an Old Testament character, a Jewish widow who saved her hometown from the invasion of the Assyrians. Judith is considered a symbol of the struggle of the Jews against the oppressors, a symbol of patriotism. When the Assyrian troops besieged her hometown, she dressed up and went to the camp of the enemies, where she attracted the attention of the commander. When he fell asleep, she cut off his head with a sharp sword, calmly walked past the sleeping soldiers and returned to her saved hometown.
The diptych consists of 2 paintings: "The Return of Judith" and "Finding the Body of Holofernes".
It is the scene of the return of Judith that Botticelli depicts in this picture.

S. Botticelli "Return of Judith" (1472-1473)
Judith is accompanied by her maid. The girl holds a huge sword in her hand, her face is concentrated and sad, her feet are bare, she walks home with a decisive step - the maid barely keeps up with her quick step, holding the basket with the head of King Holofernes in her hand.
Botticelli does not show Judith as a beautiful and seductive girl (as many artists portrayed her), he prefers the heroic moment in the life of Judith.

S. Botticelli "Saint Sebastian" (1474)

Sebastian (Sebastian)- Roman legionnaire, Christian saint, revered as a martyr. He was the head of the Praetorian Guard under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. He secretly professed Christianity. Two of his friends (brothers Mark and Marcellinus) were condemned to death for their faith in Christ. Relatives and wives of the condemned begged them to renounce their faith and save their lives, and at one moment Mark and Marcellin began to hesitate, but Sebastian came to support the condemned, his speech inspired the brothers and convinced them to remain faithful to Christianity. Those who heard Sebastian saw seven angels and a young man who blessed Sebastian and said: "You will always be with me."
Sebastian was arrested and interrogated, after which the emperor Diocletian ordered him to be taken outside the city, tied and pierced with arrows. Thinking he was dead, the executioners left him alone, but none of his vital organs were damaged by the arrows, and his wounds, although deep, were not fatal. A widow named Irina came at night to bury him, but found that he was alive and was leaving him. Many Christians urged Sebastian to flee Rome, but he refused and appeared before the emperor with new proof of his faith. By order of Diocletian, he was stoned to death, and his body was thrown into the Great Cloaca. The saint appeared in a dream to the Christian Lukina and ordered her to take his body and bury it in the catacombs, and the woman complied with this command.
In the painting by Botticelli, Sebastian is calm, he is not afraid of death; it seems that the arrows piercing his body do not excite the hero at all. He carried his faith patiently and humbly through all suffering.

S. Botticelli "The Adoration of the Magi" (c. 1475). Uffizi Gallery (Florence)

In the image of the Magi, Botticelli depicted three members the Medici families: Cosimo the Elder, who knelt before the Virgin Mary, and his sons Piero di Cosimo (a kneeling sorcerer in a red robe in the center of the picture) and Giovanni di Cosimo next to him. By the time the picture was painted, all three were already dead, Florence was ruled by Cosimo's grandson, Lorenzo Medici. He is also depicted in the painting along with his brother Giuliano.

A self-portrait of Botticelli himself is made in the form of a blond youth in a yellow robe at the right edge of the picture.
D. Vasari spoke of this picture in the following way: “It is impossible to describe all the beauty that Sandro put into the image of the heads turned in a wide variety of positions - either in front, then in profile, then in a half turn, then, finally, bowed, and then even like in any other way - it is also impossible to describe all the variety in the facial expressions of young men and old people with all the deviations by which one can judge the perfection of his skill - after all, even in the retinues of three kings he contributed so much distinguishing features that it is easy to understand who serves one and who serves another. Truly, this work is the greatest miracle, and it has been brought to such perfection in color, drawing and composition that every artist is still amazed at him.
At this time, Botticelli paints wonderful portraits.

S. Botticelli "Portrait of an Unknown Man with the Medal of Cosimo Medici the Elder" (c. 1475). Uffizi (Florence)
The picture is painted on a wooden board in tempera. A technique unique for the Renaissance was used: a round niche was made in the board, where a pastille was inserted - a copy of the medal cast in honor of Cosimo de Medici around 1465, molded from plaster and covered with gold paint.
The artist's innovation lies in the fact that he depicted the young man almost in front (previously depicted bust strictly in profile), with clearly drawn out hands (this has not been done before) and with a landscape in the background (previously the background was neutral).

S. Botticelli "Portrait of a young woman" (1476-1480). Berlin Gallery
Botticelli creates this portrait in accordance with the principles of F. Lippi, his teacher - he returns to a strict profile with an elegant silhouette and a rigid frame, niche or window. The portrait is idealized, close to the collective image.
Who was the model? It is difficult to give an answer. And the assumptions are: Simonetta Vespucci (secret love and model of Botticelli and beloved Giuliano Medici); mother or wife of Lorenzo de' Medici (the Magnificent).

In Rome (1481-1482)

By this time, Botticelli had become a very famous artist not only in Florence, but also abroad. His orders were very numerous. Pope Sixtus IV, who built the chapel in his Roman palace, also wanted Sandro Botticelli to paint it. In 1481, Botticelli arrived in Rome. Together with Ghirlandaio, Rosselli and Perugino, he frescoed the walls of the papal chapel in the Vatican, which is known as the Sistine Chapel. She will gain worldwide fame after, in 1508-1512. the ceiling and altar wall will be painted by Michelangelo.
Botticelli created three frescoes for the chapel: “The Punishment of Korea, Daphne and Aviron”, “The Temptation of Christ” and “The Calling of Moses”, as well as 11 papal portraits.

S. Botticelli "The Temptation of Christ" (1482)

Three episodes from the Gospel - the temptation of Christ - are captured in the upper part of the fresco. On the left, the devil, disguised as a hermit, persuades the fasting Jesus to turn stones into bread and satisfy his hunger. In the center, the devil is trying to get Jesus to jump off the top of the Temple in Jerusalem to test God's promise of angelic protection. On the right, the devil on top of the mountain promises Jesus earthly riches and power over the world if he rejects God and worships him, the devil. Jesus sends the devil away, and angels come to minister to the Son of God.
In the foreground, a young man healed of leprosy comes to the high priest of the Temple to declare his cleansing. In his hands is a sacrificial cup and sprinkler. The high priest symbolizes Moses, who brought the law, and the young man represents Jesus, who shed his blood and gave his life in the name of mankind, and then was resurrected.
Some of the foreground figures are portraits of the author's contemporaries.

Botticelli's secular paintings

The most famous and most mysterious work of Botticelli is "Spring" ("Primavera").

S. Botticelli "Spring" (1482). Uffizi Gallery (Florence)
The picture shows a clearing in an orange garden, all dotted with flowers. Flowers, according to botanists, reproduced from photographic accuracy, but among them are not only spring, but also summer, and even winter flowers.
Three characters of the first group: the god of the west wind Zephyr, he pursues Chloris, depicted at the moment of transformation into Flora - flowers are already flying out of her mouth; the goddess of flowers Flora herself scatters roses with a generous hand.
The central group is formed in solitude by Venus, the goddess of gardens and love. Above Venus is Cupid with a blindfold, directing an arrow into the middle Harita.
To the left of Venus is a group of three Harit, who dance, holding hands.
The last group is formed by Mercury with his attributes: a helmet, winged sandals. Botticelli portrayed him as a garden guard with a sword.
All characters almost do not touch the ground, they seem to hover above it.
There are many interpretations of the painting. They can be conditionally divided into philosophical, mythological, religious, historical and exotic.
Around 1485 Botticelli creates another famous painting"The Birth of Venus".

S. Botticelli "The Birth of Venus" (1482). Uffizi (Florence)

It is believed that the model for Venus was Simonetta Vespucci.
The picture illustrates the myth of the birth of Venus (Greek Aphrodite. Read in the article “Olympic gods”). The naked goddess floats to the shore in the shell flap, driven by the wind. On the left side of the picture, Zephyr (west wind) in the arms of his wife Chlorida (Rom. Flora) blows on a shell, creating a wind filled with flowers. On the shore, the goddess is met by one of the graces.
In the pose of Venus, the influence of classical Greek sculpture is clearly visible. Body proportions are based on the canon of harmony and beauty.
The work of Sandro Botticelli is distinguished by a special melodiousness of the line in each of his paintings, a sense of rhythm and harmony, but they are especially pronounced in his “Spring” and “The Birth of Venus”. The artist never used stencil techniques, so his paintings excite the modern viewer.

Religious paintings by S. Botticelli of the 1480s

The religious works of Botticelli of this time are the highest creative achievements painter.

"Madonna Magnificat"(1481-1485) became famous during the lifetime of the artist. The painting depicts the Coronation of the Mother of God by two angels in the guise of youths. Three other angels hold an open book in front of her, in which Mary enters a doxology beginning with the words: Magnificat anima mea Dominum ("My soul magnifies the Lord"). On Mary's lap is the baby Jesus, and in her left hand she holds a pomegranate, a symbol of God's mercy.

Later works by Sandro Botticelli

In the 1490s, the artist was in a difficult moral state. Death of Lorenzo the Magnificent, capture of Florence French troops and the apocalyptic views of Savonarola, with which Botticelli sympathized - all this strongly influenced his consciousness. His paintings of this period are full of drama, melancholy and hopelessness ("Abandoned", "Lamentation of Christ", "Slander", etc.).

S. Botticelli "Abandoned" (c. 1495). Rome, Pallavicini collection
A lonely young woman is depicted in great grief and confusion. A crouched figure against the background of a blank wall - and there is nothing else in this, even for Sandro, extraordinary and strange picture. Who is this woman? Her face could explain something to us, but her face is just not visible. Worn out dresses hint at a long, lonely and hopeless journey. Shirts are spread out on the steps like corpses... "Abandoned" is so ambiguous that its true meaning is wider than any specific plot.

S. Botticelli "Lamentation of Christ" (1495)
Three Marys and John the Theologian bowed in grief over the lifeless body of Christ. All day long they stood at the cross, watching its torment and death. Joseph of Arimathea, having come to Pilate, asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered the body to be handed over. Joseph is depicted with a crown of thorns in his hand. Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in a clean shroud and laid it in his new tomb, which he carved in the rock - in the tomb that Joseph, foreseeing own death, cooked for myself.
Botticelli placed all the figures very close to each other and at the edges of the picture. They seem to form a cross and unity over the body of Christ.
John the Theologian clung to the Virgin Mary, because Christ bequeathed to his beloved disciple to treat her like a mother. Mary Magdalene hugs her legs, and Mary, the mother of James the Younger, the head of Christ...
Botticelli died on May 17, 1510. He was buried in the cemetery of the Church of All Saints in Florence.
In the work of Botticelli, the features of sublime poetry, sophistication, sophistication, spirituality, and beauty are vividly embodied. This is one of the most emotional and lyrical artists of the Renaissance.

Botticelli, Sandro (Filipepi, Alessandro di Mariano). Genus. 1445, Florence - d. 1510, ibid.

Sandro Botticelli is one of the most famous Florentine painters of the late 15th century. His art, designed for educated connoisseurs, imbued with motifs of Neoplatonic philosophy, was not appreciated for a long time. Near three centuries Botticelli was almost forgotten until mid-nineteenth century, interest in his work did not revive, which does not fade to this day. Writers turn XIX-XX centuries (R. Sizeran, P. Muratov) created a romantic and tragic image of the artist, which has since firmly established itself in the minds. But the documents of the late XV - early XVI centuries do not confirm such an interpretation of his personality and do not always confirm the biography of Sandro Botticelli, written by Vasari.

Self-portrait of Sandro Botticelli. Detail of the painting "The Adoration of the Magi". OK. 1475

Sandro Filipepi (this is the real name of the master) was younger son tanner Mariano Filipepi, who lived in the parish of the Church of All Saints (Ognisanti). Two Botticelli brothers - Giovanni and Simone - were engaged in trade, the third - Antonio - in jewelry. The brothers' trading activities are associated with the origin of Sandro's nickname - "botticelle" ("barrel"). However, Vasari reports that this was the name of the godfather of the artist's father, Mariano, a jeweler, to whom Sandro was sent for training. There is another version, perhaps the closest to the truth, according to which the nickname passed to Sandro Botticelli from brother Antonio, and it means a distorted Florentine word " battigello"-" silversmith.

Around 1464 Sandro entered the workshop famous artist fra Filippo Lippi on the recommendation of his neighbor, the head of the Vespucci family. Botticelli remained there until the beginning of 1467. There is evidence that from the spring of 1467 he began to visit the workshop Andrea Verrocchio, and from 1469 he worked independently, initially at home, and then in a rented workshop. By 1470, the first work undoubtedly belonging to Botticelli, “The Allegory of Power” (Florence, Uffizi), belongs. It was part of the Seven Virtues series (the rest are Piero Pollaiolo) for the Chamber of the Merchant Court. A student of Botticelli soon became famous later Filippino Lippi, son of Fra Filippo, who died in 1469. January 20, 1474 on the occasion of the feast of St. Sebastian in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Florence, a painting by Sandro Botticelli "Saint Sebastian" was exhibited.

In the same year, Sandro Botticelli was invited to Pisa to work on the frescoes of Camposanto. For some unknown reason, he did not fulfill them, but in the Cathedral of Pisa he painted the fresco “Ascension of Our Lady”, which died in 1583. In the 1470s, Botticelli became close to the Medici family and the “medical circle” - Neoplatonist poets and philosophers (Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola , Angelo Poliziano). January 28, 1475 brother Lorenzo the Magnificent Giuliano took part in a tournament in one of the Florentine squares with a standard painted by Botticelli (not preserved). After the failed Pazzi conspiracy to overthrow the Medici (April 26, 1478), Botticelli, commissioned by Lorenzo the Magnificent, executed a fresco over the gates of della Dogana, which led to the Palazzo Vecchio. It depicted the hanged conspirators (this painting was destroyed on November 14, 1494 after the flight of Piero de Medici from Florence).

To the number the best works Sandro Botticelli of the 1470s refers to the Adoration of the Magi, where members of the Medici family and persons close to them are shown in the images of the eastern sages and their retinue. At the right edge of the picture, the artist also depicted himself.

Sandro Botticelli. Adoration of the Magi. OK. 1475. In the lower right corner of the picture, the artist depicted himself standing

Between 1475 and 1480 Sandro Botticelli created one of the most beautiful and mysterious works- painting "Spring". It was intended for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco Medici, with whom Botticelli had friendly relations. The plot of this picture, which combines the motives of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, has not been fully explained so far and is obviously inspired by both Neoplatonic cosmogony and events in the Medici family.

Sandro Botticelli. Spring. OK. 1482

The early period of Botticelli's work is completed by the fresco "St. Augustine" (1480, Florence, Ognisanti Church), commissioned by the Vespucci family. She makes a couple of Domenico's compositions Ghirlandaio"St. Jerome" in the same temple. The soulful passion of the image of Augustine contrasts with the prosaism of Jerome, clearly demonstrating the differences between the deep, emotional work of Botticelli and the solid craft of Ghirlandaio.

In 1481, along with other painters from Florence and Umbria (Perugino, Piero di Cosimo, Domenico Ghirlandaio), Sandro Botticelli was invited to Rome by Pope Sixtus IV to work in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. He returned to Florence in the spring of 1482, having managed to write three large compositions in the chapel: "The Healing of a Leper and the Temptation of Christ", "The Youth of Moses" and "The Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Aviron".

Sandro Botticelli. Scenes from the life of Moses. 1481-1482

Sandro Botticelli. Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Aviron. Fresco Sistine Chapel. 1481-1482

In the 1480s, Botticelli continued to work for the Medici and other noble Florentine families, performing paintings on both secular and religious subjects. Around 1483 together with Filippino Lippi, Perugino and Ghirlandaio, he worked in Volterra at the villa of Spedaletto, which belonged to Lorenzo the Magnificent. The famous painting by Sandro Botticelli “The Birth of Venus” (Florence, Uffizi), made for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, dates back to 1487. Together with the previously created “Spring”, she became a kind of iconic image, the personification of both the art of Botticelli and the refined culture of the Medicaean court.

Sandro Botticelli. Birth of Venus. OK. 1485

The two best tondos also belong to the 1480s ( round paintings) Botticelli - "Madonna Magnificat" and "Madonna with Pomegranate" (both - Florence, Uffizi). The latter, perhaps, was intended for the audience hall in the Palazzo Vecchio.

It is believed that since the late 1480s, Sandro Botticelli was strongly influenced by the sermons of the Dominican Girolamo Savonarola, who denounced the orders of his contemporary Church and called for repentance. Vasari writes that Botticelli was an adherent of the "sect" of Savonarola and even gave up painting and "fell into the greatest ruin." Indeed, the tragic mood and elements of mysticism in many of the master's later works testify in favor of such an opinion. At the same time, the wife of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, in a letter dated November 25, 1495, reports that Botticelli is painting the Medici villa in Trebbio with frescoes, and on July 2, 1497, the artist receives a loan from the same Lorenzo for the execution of decorative paintings at the Villa Castello (not preserved). In the same 1497, more than three hundred supporters of Savonarola signed a petition to Pope Alexander VI asking him to remove the excommunication from the Dominican. Among these signatures, the name of Sandro Botticelli was not found. In March 1498 Guidantonio Vespucci invited Botticelli and Piero di Cosimo to decorate their new home on Via Servi. Among the paintings that adorned him were " History of the Roman Virginia"(Bergamo, Carrara Academy) and" History of the Roman woman Lucretia"(Boston, Gardner Museum). Savonarola was burned that same year on May 29, and there is only one direct evidence of Botticelli's serious interest in his person. Almost two years later, on November 2, 1499, Sandro Botticelli's brother Simone wrote in his diary: "Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, my brother, one of best artists, which were at those times in our city, in my presence, sitting at home by the hearth, at about three o'clock in the morning, he told how that day, in his boat in the house of Sandro, he talked with Doffo Spini about the case of Frate Girolamo. Spini was the chief judge in the trial against Savonarola.

Sandro Botticelli. Lamentation of Christ (The Entombment). OK. 1490

The most significant late works of Botticelli include two "Deposition in the Coffin" (both after 1500; Munich, Alte Pinakothek; Milan, Poldi Pezzoli Museum) and the famous "Mystical Nativity" (1501, London, National Gallery) is the artist's only signed and dated work. In them, especially in "Christmas", they see Botticelli's appeal to the methods of medieval gothic art, primarily in violation of perspective and scale relationships.

Sandro Botticelli. mystical christmas. OK. 1490

However later works masters are not styling. The use of forms and techniques that are alien to the Renaissance artistic method is explained by the desire to enhance emotional and spiritual expressiveness, for the transfer of which the specifics of the real world were not enough for the artist. One of the most sensitive painters of the Quattrocento, Botticelli felt the impending crisis extremely early. humanistic culture Renaissance. In the 1520s, his offensive will be marked by the addition of the irrational and subjective art of Mannerism.

One of the most interesting aspects of the work of Sandro Botticelli is portrait painting. In this area, he established himself as a brilliant master already in the late 1460s (“Portrait of a Man with a Medal”, 1466-1477, Florence, Uffizi; “Portrait of Giuliano Medici”, c. 1475, Berlin, State assemblies). IN best portraits masters, the spirituality and refinement of the appearance of the characters are combined with a kind of hermeticism, sometimes closing them in arrogant suffering (“Portrait young man”, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Sandro Botticelli. Portrait of a young woman. After 1480

One of the most magnificent draftsmen of the 15th century, Botticelli, according to Vasari, painted a lot and "exceptionally well." Contemporaries highly valued his drawings, and in many workshops of Florentine artists they were kept as samples. So far, very few of them have survived, but the skill of Botticelli as a draftsman can be judged by a unique series of illustrations for " Divine Comedy» Dante. Executed on parchment, these drawings were intended for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco Medici. Dante Sandro Botticelli turned to illustration twice. First small group drawings (not preserved) was made by him, obviously, in the late 1470s, and Baccio Baldini performed nineteen engravings on it for the publication of the Divine Comedy in 1481. Botticelli's most famous illustration to Dante is the drawing "Map of Hell" (La mappa dell inferno).

Sandro Botticelli. Map of Hell (Circles of Hell - La mappa dell inferno). Illustration for the "Divine Comedy" by Dante. 1480s

Botticelli began to complete the sheets of the Medici code after returning from Rome, using partly his first compositions. 92 sheets have been preserved (85 in the Cabinet of Prints in Berlin, 7 in the Vatican Library). The drawings are made with silver and lead pins, the artist then circled their thin gray line with brown or black ink. Four sheets are painted with tempera. On many sheets, the ink stroke is not finished or not done at all. It is these illustrations that especially clearly make you feel the beauty of the light, precise, nervous line of Botticelli.

Sandro Botticelli. Hell. Illustration for the "Divine Comedy" by Dante. 1480s

According to Vasari, Sandro Botticelli was "a very pleasant person and often liked to play a trick on his students and friends." “They also say,” he writes further, “that he loved above all those of whom he knew that they were zealous in their art, and that he earned a lot, but everything went to dust with him, because he was a poor manager and was careless. In the end, he became decrepit and incapacitated and walked leaning on two sticks ... "Oh financial situation Botticelli in the 1490s, that is, at the time when, according to Vasari, he had to give up painting and go bankrupt under the influence of Savonarola's sermons, documents from the State Archives of Florence partly allow judging. It follows from them that on April 19, 1494, Sandro Botticelli, together with his brother Simone, acquired a house with land and a vineyard outside the gates of San Frediano. The income from this property in 1498 was determined at 156 florins. True, since 1503 the master has been indebted for contributions to the Guild of St. Luke, but the record of October 18, 1505 reports that he has been fully repaid. The fact that the elderly Botticelli continued to enjoy fame is also evidenced by a letter from Francesco dei Malatesti, an agent of the ruler of Mantua, Isabella d "Este, who was looking for craftsmen to decorate her studio. On September 23, 1502, he tells her from Florence that Perugino is in Siena, Filippino Lippi is too burdened with orders, but there is also Botticelli, who "praise me a lot." The trip to Mantua did not take place for an unknown reason. In 1503, Ugolino Verino in the poem "De ilrustratione urbis Florentiae" named Sandro Botticelli among the best painters, comparing him with the famous artists of antiquity - Zeuxis and Apelles. On January 25, 1504, the master was part of a commission discussing the choice of a place to install Michelangelo's David. The last four and a half years of Sandro Botticelli's life are not documented. They were that sad time of decrepitude and inoperability that Vasari wrote about. The artist died in May 1510 and was buried on May 17 in the cemetery of the church of Onisanti, according to the records " Books of the Dead» Florence and the same book of the workshop of doctors and pharmacists.

Other works by Botticelli:“Madonna and Child” (c. 1466, Paris, Louvre), “Madonna and Child in Glory”, “Madonna del Roseto” (both - 1469-1470, Florence, Uffizi), “Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist" (c. 1468, Paris, Louvre), "Madonna and Child with Two Angels" (1468-1469, Naples, Capodimonte), "St. interview" (c. 1470, Florence, Uffizi), "Adoration of the Magi" (c. 1472, London, National Gallery), "Madonna of the Eucharist" (c. 1471, Boston, Gardner Museum), "Adoration of the Magi", tondo (c. . 1473, London, National Gallery), "Discovery of the body of Holofernes", "Return of Judith to Vetilue" (both - c. 1473, Florence, Uffizi), "Portrait of Giuliano Medici" (Washington, National Gallery), "Portrait of a Young Man" (c. 1477, Paris, Louvre), "Madonna and Child with Angels", tondo (c. 1477, Berlin, State Assembly), "Lorenzo Tornabuoni and seven liberal arts”,“ Giovanna degli Albizzi and the Virtues ”- frescoes of the Villa Lemmy (1480, Paris, Louvre),“ Female portrait"(1481-1482, London, private collection), "The Adoration of the Magi" (1481-1482, Washington, National Gallery), "Pallas and the Centaur" (1480-1488, Florence, Uffizi), a series of four paintings based on the plot of Boccaccio's short story about Nastagio degli Onesti (1483, three - Madrid, Prado, one - London, private collection), "Venus and Mars" (1483, London, National Gallery), "Portrait of a Boy" (1483, London, National Gallery), "Madonna with Child (1483, Milan, Poldi Pezzoli Museum), Madonna and Child with Two Saints (1485, Berlin, State Assembly), Madonna and Child with Saints (Pala San Barnaba), Coronation of Our Lady "," The Annunciation "(all - c. 1490, Florence, Uffizi), "Portrait of Lorenzo Lorenziano" (c. 1490, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy), "Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist" (c. 1490, Dresden, Art Gallery old masters), “Adoration of the Child” (c. 1490-1495, Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland), “St. Augustine" (1490-1500, Florence, Uffizi), "Slander" (1495, ibid), "Madonna and Child with Angels", tondo (Milan, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana), "Annunciation" (Moscow, Pushkin Museum), "St. Jerome", "St. Dominic" (St. Petersburg, State Hermitage), “Transfiguration” (c. 1495, Rome, Pallavicini collection), “Abandoned” (c. 1495, Rome, Rospigliosi collection), “Judith with the Head of Holofernes” (c. 1495, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), four compositions on the theme the history of St. Zenobia (1495-1500; two - London, National Gallery, one - New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, one - Dresden, Art Gallery of Old Masters), "Prayer for the Cup" (c. 1499, Granada, Royal Chapel), "Symbolic Crucifixion" (1500-1505, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Art Museum Fogg).

Literature about Botticelli: Vasari 2001. Vol. 2; Dakhnovich A.S. Creativity Botticelli and eternal questions. Kyiv, 1915; Burnson b. Florentine painters of the Renaissance. M., 1923; Grashchenkov V. N. Botticelli. M., 1960; Botticelli: Sat. creative materials. M., 1962; Paslo D. Botticelli. Budapest, 1962; Smirnova I. Sandro Botticelli. M., 1967; Kustodieva T. K. Sandro Botticelli. L., 1971; Dunaev G.S. Sandro Botticelli. M., 1977; Kozlova S. Dante and Renaissance Artists // Dante's Readings. M., 1982; Sonina T.V."Spring" Botticelli // Italian collection. SPb., 1996. Issue. 1; Sonina T.V. Botticelli's drawings for Dante's Divine Comedy: Traditional and original // A book in the culture of the Renaissance. M., 2002; Ulmann H. Sandro Botticelli. Munich, 1893; Warburg A. Botticellis "Geburt der Venus" und Frühling": Eine Untersuchung über die Vorschtellungen von der Antike in der italienischen Frührenaissance. Hamburg; Leipzig, 1893; SupinoL I disegni per la "Divina Commedia" di Dante. Bologna, 1921; Venturi A. II Botticelli interprete di Dante. Firenze, 1921; Mesnil J. Sandro Botticelli. Paris, 1938; Lipmann F. Zeichnungen von Sandro Botticelli zu Dantes Gottlicher Komödie. Berlin, 1954; Salvini R. Tutta la pittura del Botticelli. Milano, 1958; ArgonG.C. Sandro Botticelli. Geneva, 1967; in C, Mandel G. L "opera completa del Botticelli. Milano, 1967; Ettlinger L. D., Ettlinger H. S. Botticelli. London, 1976; Lightbown R. Sandro Botticelli: Compi, cat. London, 1978; Baldini U. Botticelli. Firenze, 1988; Pons N. Botticelli Cat. compi. Milano, 1989; Botticelli e Dante. Milano, 1990; Gemeva C. Botticelli Cat. compi. Firenze, 1990; Botticelli. From Lorenzo the Magnificent to Savonarola. Milano, 2003.

Based on the article by T. Sonina