The painting "Portrait of a Young Man" was made by Sandro Botticelli with tempera and oil paints on wood approximately in 1483. Genre - portrait. The full-face portrait depicts a young man with a pleasant, dreamy face, large expressive […]
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi was born in Florence to a tanner's family. His older brother Giovanni, an incredibly fat boy, was teased as Barrel (Botticelli), and the nickname stuck with both brothers - some illiterate neighbors […]
The Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli often depicted St. John the Baptist in his works. The Forerunner of Christ was one of the most popular in the painting of the entire Renaissance, second only in popularity to […]
The Temptation of Christ or in other words Temptation of Christ (in Italian Tentazione di Cristo) is a fresco made by the great Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. The size of the painting is 345.5 by 555 cm. It was painted between […]
The great Italian Renaissance artist immortalized the Prince of Youth in many of his paintings, which were striking in their beauty. Giuliano Medici attracted the attention of many artists, poets, who mentioned him in their […]
During the years of his life, Sandro Botticelli was a well-known artist, who was often approached with commissions for portraits. One of those who wanted to order a portrait for themselves was Simonetta, one of the most beautiful women of the Renaissance. "Portrait […]
Botticelli is rightfully one of the most prominent representatives of the Renaissance. The original style of the master, was obtained from his teacher, which is largely determined solely in color, his own type of faces and […]
The painting is currently in the El Paso Museum of Art (USA). By genre, it certainly should be attributed to religious painting, it was written in tempera. As for the direction of fine arts, the work belongs to the Early […]
Botticelli Sandro(1445–1510), Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Belonged to the Florentine school, around 1465-1466 he studied with Filippo Lippi; in 1481–1482 he worked in Rome. The early works of Botticelli are characterized by a clear construction of space, a clear light and shade modeling, and an interest in everyday details (“Adoration of the Magi”, about 1476–1471,). From the end of the 1470s, after Botticelli's rapprochement with the court of the rulers of Florence, the Medici and the circle of Florentine humanists, the features of aristocracy and refinement intensified in his work, paintings appeared on ancient and allegorical themes, in which sensual pagan images were imbued with sublime and at the same time poetic, lyrical spirituality (“Spring”, circa 1477-1478, “The Birth of Venus”, circa 1483-1485, both in the Uffizi). The animation of the landscape, the fragile beauty of the figures, the musicality of light, quivering lines, the transparency of exquisite colors, as if woven from reflexes, create in them an atmosphere of dreaminess and slight sadness. In the frescoes made by Botticelli in 1481–1482 in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican (“Scenes from the Life of Moses”, “The Punishment of Korea, Dathan and Abirona”, etc.), the majestic harmony of the landscape and ancient architecture is combined with the internal plot tension, the sharpness of the portrait characteristics inherent in , along with the search for subtle nuances of the inner state of the human soul, and easel portraits of the master (portrait of Giuliano Medici, 1470s, Bergamo; portrait of a young man with a medal, 1474). In the 1490s, during the era of social unrest that shook Florence and the mystical-ascetic sermons of the monk Savonarola, notes of drama and religious exaltation appear in the art of Botticelli (“Slander”, after 1495, Uffizi), but his drawings for Dante’s “Divine Comedy” ( 1492–1497), while being sharp in their emotional expressiveness, they retain the lightness of the line and the clarity of the Renaissance images.
The work of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian painter, sculptor, architect, scientist and engineer. The founder of the artistic culture of the High Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci developed as a master, studying in Florence with Verrocchio. The methods of work in the workshop of Verrocchio, where artistic practice was combined with technical experiments, as well as friendship with the astronomer P. Toscanelli, contributed to the emergence of the scientific interests of the young da Vinci. In his early works (the head of an angel in Verrocchio's Baptism, after 1470, the Annunciation, circa 1474, both in the Uffizi; the so-called Benois Madonna, circa 1478, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg), the artist, developing the traditions of the art of the Early Renaissance, emphasized the smooth volume of forms with soft chiaroscuro, sometimes enlivened faces with a barely perceptible smile, achieving with its help the transfer of subtle states of mind. Recording the results of countless observations in sketches, sketches and field studies performed in various techniques (Italian and silver pencils, sanguine, pen, etc.), Leonardo da Vinci achieved, sometimes resorting to an almost caricatured grotesque, sharpness in the transfer of facial expressions, and physical brought the features and movement of the human body into perfect harmony with the spiritual atmosphere of the composition.
In 1481 or 1482, Leonardo da Vinci entered the service of the ruler of Milan, Lodovico Moro, acting as a military engineer, hydraulic engineer, and organizer of court holidays. For over 10 years he worked on the equestrian monument of Francesco Sforza, the father of Lodovico Moro (a life-size clay model of the monument was destroyed when Milan was taken by the French in 1500). During the Milan period, Leonardo da Vinci created 2 versions of the Madonna in the Grotto, where the characters are presented surrounded by a bizarre rocky landscape, and the finest chiaroscuro plays the role of a spiritual principle that emphasizes the warmth of human relationships. In the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, he made a wall painting “The Last Supper” (1495-1497; due to the peculiarities of the technique used by Leonardo da Vinci - oil with tempera - it was preserved in a badly damaged form; restored in the 20th century), which marks one from the peaks of European painting; its high ethical and spiritual content is expressed in the mathematical regularity of the composition, which logically continues the real architectural space, in a clear, strictly developed system of gestures and facial expressions of the characters, in the harmonious balance of forms.
Being engaged in architecture, Leonardo da Vinci developed various versions of the “ideal” city and projects of the central-domed temple, which had a great influence on the contemporary architecture of Italy. After the fall of Milan, Leonardo da Vinci's life was spent in constant travel. In Florence, he worked on the painting of the Great Council Hall in the Palazzo Vecchio “The Battle of Anghiari” (1503-1506, not finished, known from copies from cardboard), standing at the origins of the European battle genre of modern times. In the portrait of "Monna Lisa" (c. 1503), he embodied the lofty ideal of eternal femininity and human charm; an important element of the composition was a cosmically vast landscape, melting into a cold blue haze. The late works of Leonardo da Vinci include the altarpiece “St. Anna with Mary and the Christ Child” (circa 1500-1507), which completes the search for a master in the field of light-air perspective, and “John the Baptist” (circa 1513-1517), where a somewhat sugary ambiguity image testifies to the growth of crisis moments in the artist's work. In a series of drawings depicting a universal catastrophe (the cycle with the "Flood", ca. 1514-1516), thoughts about the insignificance of man in front of the power of the elements are combined with rationalistic ideas about the cyclical nature of natural processes. The most important source for studying the views of Leonardo da Vinci are his notebooks and manuscripts (about 7 thousand sheets), excerpts from which were included in the “Treatise on Painting”, compiled after the death of the master by his student F. Melzi and which had a huge impact on European theoretical thought and artistic practice. In the dispute between the arts, Leonardo da Vinci gave the first place to painting, understanding it as a universal language capable of embodying all the diverse manifestations of the rational principle in nature. As a scientist and engineer, he enriched almost all areas of science of that time. Leonardo da Vinci, a prominent representative of the new natural science based on experiment, paid special attention to mechanics, seeing in it the main key to the secrets of the universe; his brilliant constructive guesses were far ahead of his contemporary era (projects of rolling mills, machines, submarines, aircraft).
The observations he collected on the influence of transparent and translucent media on the coloring of objects led to the establishment of scientifically based principles of aerial perspective in the art of the High Renaissance. Studying the device of the eye, Leonardo da Vinci made the right guesses about the nature of binocular vision. In anatomical drawings, he laid the foundations of modern scientific illustration, and also studied botany and biology.
Biography of Sandro Botticelli very rich. Let's start with the fact that his name is a nickname. His real name was Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi. Sandro is an abbreviation for Alessandro, but the nickname Botticelli stuck to him, because that was the name of one of the artist's older brothers. In translation, it means "barrel". He was born in Florence in 1445.
The father of the future artist was a tanner. Around 1458, little Sandro was already working as an apprentice in a jewelry workshop, which belonged to one of his older brothers. But he did not stay there for a long time, and already in the early 1460s he was enrolled as an apprentice to the artist Fra Philippe Lippi.
The years in Lippi's art workshop were fun and productive. The artist and his student got along well. Subsequently, Lippi himself became a student of Botticelli. Since 1467, Sandro opened his own workshop.
Botticelli completed his first order for the courtroom. This was in 1470. By 1475, Sandro Botticelli was a well-known and sought-after master. He began to create frescoes, paint pictures for churches.
Botticelli was considered "their" person almost everywhere, including in rich royal families. So, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici, when he bought a villa for himself, invited Sandro Botticelli to live with him and paint pictures for the interior. It was at this time that Botticelli wrote his two most famous paintings - "" and "". Both paintings are presented on our website with a detailed description.
By 1481, Botticelli went to Rome at the invitation of Pope Sixtus IV. He took part in the painting, which had just been completed.
After his father's death in 1482, Botticelli returned to his native Florence. Having survived the tragedy, the artist took up the paintings again. Crowds of customers went to his workshop, so some of the work was done by a student of the master, and he only took on more complex and prestigious orders. This time was the peak of Sandro Botticelli's fame. He was known as the best artist in Italy.
But ten years later, the government changed. Savonarola ascended the throne, who despised the Medici, their luxury, venality. Botticelli had a hard time. In addition, in 1493, Botticelli's brother, Giovanni, whom he loved very much, died. Botticelli lost all support. Although this period did not last long, because in 1498 Savonarol was excommunicated and burned at the stake in public, it was still very difficult.
By the end of his life, Botticelli was very lonely. There is no trace of his former glory. He was rejected as an artist, and no more commissions were made. He died in 1510.
"During the time of Lorenzo Medici the Elder, the Magnificent, which became a truly golden age for any gifted person, Alessandro also flourished, between us called Sandro, nicknamed Botticello" - this is how Giorgio Vasari opens the biography of Sandro Botticelli (1568). As can be seen from these words, Botticelli was one of the most striking figures of the era blessed for all artists, associated with the name of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
The real name of the artist is Alessandro Filipepi (for Sandro's friends). He was the youngest of the four sons of Mariano Filipepi and his wife Smeralda, and was born in Florence in 1445. By profession, Mariano was a tanner and lived with his family in the Santa Maria Novella quarter on Via Nuova, where he rented an apartment in a house owned by Rucellai. He had his own workshop near the bridge of Santa Trinita in Oltrarno, the business brought a very modest income, and old Filipepi dreamed of quickly attaching his sons and finally being able to leave the laborious craft.
The first mention of Alessandro, as well as of other Florentine artists, we find in the so-called "portate al Catasto", that is, the cadastre, where income statements were made for taxation, which, in accordance with the decree of the Republic of 1427, the head of each Florentine was obliged to do. families. So in 1458, Mariano Filipepi indicated that he had four sons Giovanni, Antonio, Simone and thirteen-year-old Sandro and added that Sandro "learns to read, he is a sickly boy."
Until now, the origin of Sandro's nickname - "Botticelli" is in doubt: perhaps it is formed from the nickname of the older brother, who, wanting to help his aging father, apparently, did a lot of raising a younger child; or perhaps the nickname arose in consonance with the craft of the second brother, Antonio. However, no matter how we interpret the above document, the art of jewelry played an important role in the development of the young Botticelli, because it was precisely in this direction that the same brother Antonio directed him. To the jeweler ("a certain Botticello," as Vasari writes, a man whose identity has not been established to this day), Alessandro was sent by his father, tired of his "extravagant mind", gifted and capable of learning, but restless and still not finding the true vocations; Perhaps Mariano wanted his youngest son to follow in the footsteps of Antonio, who had been working as a goldsmith since at least 1457, which would mark the beginning of a small but reliable family business.
According to Vasari, there was such a close connection between jewelers and painters at that time that to enter the workshop of one meant to get direct access to the craft of others, and Sandro, who was pretty adept at drawing - the art necessary for accurate and confident "blackening", soon became interested in painting. and decided to devote himself to it, while not forgetting the most valuable lessons of jewelry art, in particular, the clarity in the outline of contour lines and the skillful use of gold, which was later often used by the artist as an admixture to paints or in its pure form for the background.
Around 1464, Sandro entered the workshop of Fra Filippo Lippi from the monastery of Carmine, the most excellent painter of that time, which he left in 1467 at the age of twenty-two.
Devoted entirely to painting, he became a follower of his teacher and imitated him so that Fra Filippo fell in love with him and by his training soon raised him to a degree that no one could have imagined.
Lippi's workshop was then in Prato, where the master worked until 1466 on the frescoes of the cathedral (however, it was not possible to reliably identify the hand of the famous student in these murals). In 1465, Philippe painted the Madonna and Child with Angels, now in the Uffizi; she became an indisputable model in composition and style for some of Botticelli's early works, namely the Madonna and Child with an Angel (Gallery of the Orphanage, Florence) and Madonna on the Loggia (Uffizi). Even the early works of Sandro are distinguished by a special, almost elusive atmosphere of spirituality, a kind of poetic veil of images.
Youthful "Madonna with Child and Angel" (1465-1467, Florence, Gallery of the Educational House), was made by Botticelli shortly after the painting by Filippo Lippi on a similar plot ("Madonna and Child", 1465, Florence, Uffizi) It is easy to see how accurately Botticelli reproduces the composition of "Madonna" teacher Fra Philippe. Fra Philip - "a master of exceptional and rare talent" (Vasari) - was a Carmelite monk, and from his affair with the nun of the monastery of Prato Lucrezia Buti, Filippino Lippi was born, who later became a student of Botticelli.
In 1467, Fra Filippo went to Spoleto, where he soon died, and Botticelli, still wanting to quench his thirst for knowledge, began to look for another source among the highest artistic achievements of the era. For a time he attended the studio of Andrea Verrocchio, a versatile craftsman, sculptor, painter and jeweler who led a team of multi-talented emerging artists; here at that time the atmosphere of "advanced" creative search reigned, it is no coincidence that the young Leonardo studied with Verrocchio. From fruitful communication in these circles, such paintings as Madonna in the Rosary (c. 1470, Florence, Uffizi) and Madonna and Child with Two Angels (1468-1469, Naples, Capodimonte Museum) were born, where the optimal synthesis of lessons was found Lippi and Verrocchio. Perhaps these works were the first fruits of Botticelli's independent activity.
The period from 1467 to 1470 is the first altarpiece of Sandro known to us, the so-called "Altar of Sant'Ambrogio" (now in the Uffizi), found in an unnamed Florentine church, but in reality had a different purpose: perhaps it was made for the main the altar of the church of San Francesco in Montevarchi - this hypothesis, among other things, is confirmed by the presence of St. Francis to the left of Our Lady. In addition, in the picture, in addition to Magdalene, John the Baptist and St. Catherine of Alexandria, kneeling Cosmas and Damian are depicted - the holy martyrs who were considered patrons of the Medici house and often depicted in paintings commissioned by the Medici themselves or someone from their entourage.
It can be concluded that already in 1469 Botticelli was an independent artist, for in the cadastre of the same year Mariano stated that his son was working at home. The activities of four sons (the eldest of them, Giovanni, became a broker and acted as a financial intermediary in the government, and his nickname "Botticella" - "barrel" - passed to a more famous brother) brought the Filipepi family significant income and position in society. Filipepi owned houses, land, vineyards and shops.
Already in 1970, Sandro opened his own workshop and somewhere between July 18 and August 8, 1470 he completed a work that brought him wide public recognition. The painting depicting the allegory of the Force was intended for the Commercial Court - one of the most important city institutions that dealt with offenses of an economic nature.
The Botticelli painting was supposed to be included in the Virtues cycle, intended to decorate the judicial chairs in the Assembly Room, located on the Piazza della Signoria. Strictly speaking, the entire cycle was ordered in 1469 by Piero del Pollaiolo, and even Verrocchio was among the contenders for such a prestigious order. Botticelli managed to get the order, most likely due to some delay in fulfilling it with Pollaiolo and, of course, thanks to the support of the influential politician Tommaso Soderini. Thus, Botticelli had the opportunity to get even closer to the Florentine circles associated with the Medici, where Verrocchio had probably introduced him even earlier.
In 1472 he enrolled in the Guild of St. Luke (association of artists). This gives him the opportunity to legally lead the lifestyle of an independent artist, open a workshop and surround himself with assistants, so that he has someone to rely on in case he is commissioned not only for paintings on wood or frescoes, but also for drawings and models for "standards and other fabrics" (Vasari), inlays, stained-glass windows and mosaics, as well as book illustrations and engravings. One of the official students of Botticelli in the first year of his membership in the association of artists was Filippino Lippi, the son of the master's former teacher.
Botticelli received orders mainly in Florence, one of his most remarkable paintings "Saint Sebastian" (Berlin, State Museums) was made for the oldest church in the city of Santa Maria Maggiore. On January 20, 1474, on the occasion of the feast of St. Sebastian Maggiore, the painting was solemnly placed on one of the columns of the church of Santa Maria. This is the first documented religious work of the artist, which is now firmly established in the artistic panorama of Florence.
In the same 1474, when this work was completed, the artist was invited to work in another city. The Pisans asked him to paint frescoes in the Camposanto cycle of murals, and as a test of his skill they ordered him the altarpiece "The Death of Mary", which was not completed by Botticelli, just as the frescoes themselves were not completed by him.
It was during this period that close contact was established between the painter and members of the Medici family, recognized as the rulers of Florence. For Lorenzo's Medici brother, Giuliano, he painted the banner for the famous 1475 tournament in Piazza Santa Croce. Shortly before the death of the younger Medici, or immediately after it, Botticelli, possibly with the help of students, painted several portraits of Giuliano (Washington, National Gallery of Art; Berlin, State Museums; Milan, Crespi collection), which, together with a commemorative medal minted by Bertoldo at the behest of the Magnificent (Florence, Bargello Museum), preserved the features of the deceased for centuries. Giuliano was assassinated in 1478 during the conspiracy of the Pazzi family against the Medici, directed by Pope Sixtus IV. The figures of the conspirators, both hanged and still fugitives, Sandro wrote on the facade of the Palazzo della Signoria from the Porta dei Dogana (Customs Gate). By the way, a similar order was given in 1440 by Andrea del Castagno, who was supposed to present the members of the Albizzi family who plotted against the Medici, and after his defeat, they were sentenced to remain forever dishonored on the walls of the Palazzo del Podesta.
A work reflecting the direct ties between the painter and the Medici family, The Adoration of the Magi (now in the Uffizi Gallery) was commissioned between 1475 and 1478 by Giovanni (or Gaspare) da Zanobi Lamy, a banker close to the Medici family, and was intended for his family altar in the church of Santa Maria Novella. For many researchers, the special attraction of this picture lies in the fact that here you can find the image of a number of historical figures. However, this quality should not divert attention from her remarkable compositional construction, which testifies to the high level of skill achieved by the artist by that time.
In the interval between 1475 and 1482, with an increase in psychological expressiveness, the realism of the image reaches its maximum development.
The paths of this development are clearly seen when comparing two paintings on the theme of "Adoration of the Magi", one of which (from 1477) is in the Uffizi in Florence, and the other (from 1481-1482) is in the National Gallery in Washington. In the first, the desire for realism is obvious; it is reflected not only in the abundance of portraits of Botticelli's contemporaries - for all their splendor, they participate in the depicted scene very relatively, only as secondary motives - but also in the fact that the composition is built more in depth than on a plane: in the arrangement of the figures one feels a well-known artificial, especially in the scene on the right. The execution of each image is a miracle of grace and nobility, but everything as a whole is too limited and compressed in space; there is no physical movement, and with it a spiritual impulse.
The second picture may also have portraits - but who knows? There are no extras here: each character, as in the first picture, full of beauty and nobility, worships Jesus in his own way. As before, space is given in depth, but this time it is not closed, opening towards the sky, and the partial overlap of figures on each other is compensated by their distribution on the plane. The unity of perception is achieved by the arrangement of the figures, just as the unity of mood is realized in the idea of worship. Now you can already understand what a "composition of a part" is. This is a well-known arrangement of figures, on the plane that is now approaching, then, on the contrary, moved apart so that its rhythm is connected not with the totality, but with the sequence, not with the mass, but with the line.
The two most famous paintings by Botticelli, the so-called "Primavera" ("Spring") and "The Birth of Venus" were commissioned by the Medici and embody the cultural atmosphere that arose in the medical circle. Art historians unanimously date these works to 1477-1478. The paintings were painted for Giovanni and Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco - the sons of Piero's brother "Gouty". Later, after the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent, this branch of the Medici family was in opposition to the power of his son Piero, for which he earned the nickname "dei Popolani" (Popolanskaya). Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco was a student of Marsilio Ficino. For his villa in Castello, he ordered frescoes from the artist, and these two paintings were also intended for her. The Neoplatonic context is essential to understanding their meaning. The largest representative of the Florentine philosophy of the XV century, Marsilio Ficino followed Plato, reworking the Platonism and mystical ideas of late antiquity and bringing them into line with Christian teaching. In art studies, the content of these paintings is interpreted in various ways, including its connection with classical poetry, in particular, with the lines of Horace and Ovid. But along with this, the ideas of Ficino, which found their poetic embodiment in Poliziano, should have been reflected in the concept of Botticell's compositions.
The presence of Venus symbolizes here not sensual love in its pagan sense, but acts as a humanistic ideal of spiritual love, "that conscious or semi-conscious aspiration of the soul upward, which purifies everything in its movement" (Chastel). Consequently, the images of Spring are cosmological and spiritual in nature. Fertilizing Zephyr connects with Flora, giving rise to Primavera, Spring - a symbol of the life-giving forces of Nature. Venus in the center of the composition (Amur blindfolded above her) is identified with Humanitas - a complex of spiritual properties of a person, the manifestations of which personify the three Graces; looking up, Mercury scatters the clouds with its caduceus.
In Botticell's interpretation, the myth acquires special expressiveness, the idyllic scene appears against the background of orange trees densely woven with branches, following a single harmonic rhythm, which is created by the linear outlines of draperies, figures, and dance movement, gradually fading away in the contemplative gesture of Mercury. The figures stand out clearly against the background of dark foliage, resembling a trellis.
The leitmotif of Botticelli's work is the idea of Humanitas (the totality of the spiritual properties of a person, personified most often in the image of Venus or sometimes Pallas-Minerva), or the idea of a higher, ideal beauty that contains all the intellectual and spiritual potential of a person - that is, external beauty, which is a mirror of inner beauty and part of universal harmony, a microcosm in the macrocosm.
According to its plan, "The Birth of Venus" is close to "Spring"; it interprets the previous position of the Neoplatonic myth: the act of incarnation of Humanitas by Nature. Connecting with matter, the life-giving spirit breathes life into it, and Ora (the Season), symbolizing the historical moment of the improvement of mankind, holds out the cloak of "modesty" to the goddess, granting her generosity in endowing people with her virtues. It seems that a similar picture is reflected in the lines of Poliziano's poem Stanzas for the Tournament.
girl of divine beauty
Swaying, standing on the sink,
Drawn to the shore by voluptuous Zephyrs
And Heaven admires this (spectacle).
The gentle tones of dawn are used by the artist rather in the carnation of the figures than in the interpretation of the spatial environment surrounding them; they are also given to light robes, enlivened by the finest pattern of cornflowers and daisies. The optimism of the humanistic myth is organically combined here with the light melancholy characteristic of the art of Botticelli. But after the creation of these paintings, the contradictions, gradually deepening in the culture and fine arts of the Renaissance, also touched the artist. The first signs of this become visible in his work in the early 1480s.
Judging by the number of his students and assistants registered in the cadastre, in 1480 Botticelli's workshop was widely recognized. This year he painted "Saint Augustine" on the altar screen in the church of Ognisanti (All Saints) for the Vespucci, one of the most famous families of the city, close to the Medici. Both saints became especially revered in the 15th century due to the spread of a large number of apocryphal texts. Botticelli worked hard, trying to surpass all the painters of his time, but especially Domenico Ghirlandaio, who completed the image of St. Jerome. This work turned out to be worthy of the highest praise, for on the face of this saint he expressed that depth, sharpness and subtlety of thought, which is characteristic of persons full of wisdom.
Not far from Botticelli's house was the San Martino del La Scala hospital, where in 1481 the artist painted the Annunciation fresco on the wall of the loggia (Florence, Uffizi). Since the hospital received primarily those infected with the plague, the painting was probably commissioned by Botticelli on the occasion of the end of the epidemic that struck the city.
Thanks to the policy of Lorenzo Medici, who sought to reconcile with the pope and expand the cultural ties of Florence, Botticelli, along with Cosimo Rosselli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Pietro Perugino, went to Rome on October 27, 1480 to paint the walls of the new "great chapel" of the Vatican, which had just been erected by order of Pope Sixtus IV and therefore called the Sistine.
Sixtus ordered to put Botticelli at the head of all work, and contemporaries appreciated the master's frescoes above the works of other artists.
Botticelli owns at least eleven figures of popes from the top row of paintings, as well as three scenes of the main cycle, which reproduces episodes from the life of Moses and Christ located opposite each other: "The Youth of Moses", "The Temptation of Christ" (opposite) and "The Punishment of the Rebellious Levites" ". Biblical scenes are depicted against the backdrop of luxurious landscapes, where the silhouettes of the buildings of Ancient Rome appear every now and then (for example, the Arch of Constantine in the last episode), as well as details that are persistently repeated, meaning a tribute to the customer - Pope Sixtus IV of the della Rovere family: his heraldic symbol - oak and a combination of yellow and blue - the colors of the coat of arms of della Rovere, used in Aaron's robe in the last picture.
In the autumn of 1482, when the finished frescoes took their place in the chapel next to the opening works of Signorelli and Bartolomeo della Gatta, Botticelli, along with the others, returned to Florence, where he soon experienced the loss of his father. Mariano Filipepi died on February 20 and is buried in the Ognisanti cemetery.
During the years of the greatest creative productivity, Botticelli was quite closely associated with the "court" of Lorenzo Medici, and many of the artist's most famous works of the 70-80s were written by him by order of members of this family; others were inspired by the poems of Poliziano or reveal the influence of the literary disputes of humanist scholars, friends of Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492), whom he gathered at his court. An educated man, a sober and cruel politician, Lorenzo was a poet, a philosopher who believed in nature as in God. The largest philanthropist of his time, he turned his court into the center of the artistic culture of the Renaissance.
On October 5, 1482, the Signoria commissioned Sandro, along with such experienced painters as Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Piero Pollaiolo, to perform frescoes in the Hall of Lilies in the Palazzo dei Priori (now called the Palazzo Vecchio). However, Sandro did not take part in this work, and the following year, together with his students, on four boards, he wrote the story of Nastagio degli Onesti based on one of the short stories of Boccaccio's Decameron to decorate the wedding chest. In the same 1483, Lorenzo the Magnificent commissioned Botticelli, Perugino, Filippino Lippi and Domenico Ghirlandaio to paint a series of wall paintings for his villa at Spedaletto near Volterra. Another public order - the artist received it in 1487 from representatives of the tax department (Magistratura dei Massai di Camera) - was a tondo made for the Audience Hall in the Palazzo della Signoria. Researchers identify it with the painting "Madonna with a Pomegranate".
Pallas and the Centaur (circa 1488) was painted for Giovanni Pierfrancesco de' Medici and was in the Villa Castello along with Spring and the Birth of Venus.
Instead of Pallas Athena (Minerva), a warrior, who since ancient times was customary to depict with a helmet, shell and shield, with the head of Medusa Gorgon, Botticelli depicted "Minerva-Pacific", whose attributes are a spear (Botticelli has a halberd) and a plum branch (in picture - olive branches and a wreath) - symbolize virtue. Depicting a centaur, the artist used a specific ancient prototype - the figure of a sarcophagus, now stored in the Vatican Museum. At the same time, the picture is profoundly different from ancient monuments in that the artist depicted not a physical fight between Minerva and a centaur - "centauromachy", but "psychomachy". There are a number of allegorical interpretations of this work. They saw in him the victory of Lorenzo the Magnificent over Naples, the victory of the Medici over Pazzi, the combination of passions and wisdom in Lorenzo. There is also a broader interpretation of it as the victory of wisdom over passions, which was discussed in the Medici circle. An understanding of the picture as a general victory of the forces of peace over the forces of destruction was also proposed. In this case, its content is close to the content of the painting "Venus and Mars".
Venus becomes the protagonist in the painting "Venus and Mars" (London, National Gallery), apparently intended to decorate Vespucci's house, since a hornet's nest is depicted in the upper right corner - the heraldic symbol of the family. Sandro was associated with the Vespucci family for a long time: to decorate Giovanni's room in the house on Servi Street, bought in 1498 by his father Gvidantonio, he painted many more "living and beautiful paintings" (Vasari). The paintings "History of Virginia" (Bergamo, Accademia Carrara) and "History of Lucretia" (Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum) were probably commissioned on the occasion of Giovanni's marriage to Namichina di Benedetto Nerli, which took place in 1500. There is also information about the paintings by Botticelli in the Giorgio Vespucci Chapel of the Ognisanti Church, but they have not reached us.
Portraits of Botticelli, as already noted, are, in general, lower than the images included in his compositions. This is probably due to the fact that for the artist's imagination, with its constant need for perfect rhythm, movement was necessary, which the bust portrait, common in the 15th century, could not give. We should also not forget the sublime nature of Botticelli's realism. In any case, the images of his "Simonetta" (Simonetta Vespucci) are not worth the Graces of "Spring". As for his portraits of men, only "Lorenzano" can be attributed to the artist's masterpieces for its amazing vitality, as well as a portrait of a young man (London National Gallery), where an expression of love is conveyed with exceptional expression.
Upon his return from Rome, Botticelli painted a number of large paintings of religious content, and among them several tondos, where the subtlety of the artist's feelings could be fully manifested in the distribution of forms on a plane. Tondo were intended to decorate the apartments of the Florentine nobility or for art collections. The first tondo known to us, dating from the seventies, is the "Adoration of the Magi" (London, National Gallery), which probably served as a table top in Pucci's house. Starting with this still immature work, where the distortion of perspective seems justified if the picture is placed horizontally, Botticelli demonstrates the "sophistical", sober and restless approach described by Vasari: the round form gives the artist the opportunity to conduct optical experiments. Examples of this are the Madonna Magnificat and the Madonna with the Pomegranate (both in the Uffizi). The first, in 1485, due to the special curvature of the curved lines and the general circular rhythm, gives the impression of a picture painted on a convex surface; in the second, created in 1487 for the Courtroom of the Palazzo Signoria, the reverse technique was used, creating the effect of a concave surface.
Among the great religious compositions, the undoubted masterpiece is the "Altar of St. Barnabas", written immediately after returning from Rome. Due to the power of execution, some images of this composition look truly magnificent. Such are St. Catherine - an image full of hidden passion and therefore much more alive than the image of Venus; St. Barnabas - an angel with the face of a martyr, and especially John the Baptist - one of the most profound and most human images in art of all time.
Botticelli's large work "The Wedding of Our Lady" (1490) is already imbued with a different spirit. If in the years 1484-1489 Botticelli seems to be pleased with himself and is serenely experiencing a period of glory and mastery, then the “Wedding” already testifies to a confusion of feelings, new anxieties and hopes. There is a lot of emotion in the depiction of angels, the oath gesture of St. Jerome breathes confidence and dignity. At the same time, there is a certain departure from the "perfection of proportions" (perhaps this is precisely why this work did not have much success), tension is growing, which, however, refers exclusively to the inner world of the characters and therefore not devoid of grandeur, the sharpness of color increases, becoming more and more independent of chiaroscuro.
The desire for greater depth and drama, the full value of which only Adolfo Venturi could appreciate, is clearly manifested in other works of Botticelli. One of them is "Abandoned". Its plot is undoubtedly taken from the Bible: Tamar expelled by Ammon. But this single historical fact in its artistic embodiment acquires an eternal and universal sound: here is a feeling of a woman’s weakness, and compassion for her loneliness and repressed despair, and a blank barrier in the form of a closed gate and a thick wall reminiscent of the walls of a medieval castle.
In 1493, when all of Florence was shocked by the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent, important events took place in Botticelli's personal life: brother Giovanni died and was buried next to his father in the Ognisanti cemetery, and another brother, Simone, arrived from Naples, with whom the artist acquired "master's house" in the town of San Sepolcro a Bellosguardo.
In Florence at that time, the fiery, revolutionary sermons of Fra Girolamo Savonarola thundered. And while “vanity” (precious utensils, luxurious robes and works of art on the plots of pagan mythology) were burned in the city squares, the hearts of the Florentines ignited and a revolution flared up, more spiritual than social, which struck first of all those very sensitive, sophisticated minds that were creators of elitist intellectualism in Lorenzo's time. Reassessment of values, a decline in interest in speculative illusory constructions, a sincere need for renewal, the desire to regain strong, true moral and spiritual foundations were signs of a deep internal discord experienced by many Florentines (including Botticelli) already in the last years of the life of the Magnificent and reached its apogee November 9, 1494 - on the feast of the Savior and the day of the exile of the Medici.
Botticelli, who lived under the same roof with his brother Simone, a convinced "pianoni" (lit. "crybaby" - the so-called followers of Savonarola), was strongly influenced by Fra Girolamo, which could not but leave a deep mark on his painting. This is eloquently evidenced by two altarpieces "Lamentation of Christ" from the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan. The paintings date back to about 1495 and were located respectively in the churches of San Paolino and Santa Maria Maggiore.
In Simone Filipepi's "Chronicle" there is a brief mention that Sandro was agitated by the fate of Savonarola, but there is no documentary evidence of his adherence to the teachings of the Dominican monk. And yet, thematic connection with his sermons can be found in the later works of the master, such as "Mystical Nativity" or "Crucifixion". Savonarola's personality, which occupied such a significant place in the cultural and political events of the late 15th century, must have attracted Sandro as well. Indeed, without taking into account the deep spiritual influence of the Dominican, how to explain the dramatic change in the work of Botticelli from the 1490s to his death in 1510?
The propensity for contemplation, already manifested in the early works of the master, which allowed him to penetrate into Neoplatonic ideas and give their subtle pictorial interpretation, made him equally open to the perception of the spirit of Savonarola's sermons. Actually, in this respect, both cultural and psychological, one should consider Botticelli's sympathy for the program of the Dominican reformer, which is not necessarily associated with direct participation in his movement or in the political affairs of the Republic established after the expulsion of the Medici.
The strengthening of the moral and religious mood in the last works of Botticelli is obvious. It is also palpable in the personal drama of Botticelli, who, like Savonarola, felt the presence of the devil during the reign of Alexander Borgia. But, on the other hand, Botticelli took questions of morality and religion seriously, which manifested itself even when the artless and traditional motive of Lippi acquired from him the mystical contemplation of the Madonna of the Eucharist.
In the "Crucifixion" from the art collection of Fogg, the image of the mystical torments of the Magdalene, embracing the base of the cross in despair, is one of the highest examples of art. Florence is visible in the depths; it is possible that the image of an angel symbolizes the punishment of Florence, who sent Savonarola to the stake.
From adolescence, if not from birth, Sandro carries in himself a high desire for beauty, a feeling of deep compassion. The desire for beauty determined the sublime character of his realism; compassion gave spirituality and humanity to physical beauty. At first, grace, impulse, confidence, dreams: "Judith", "Madonna of the Eucharist", two versions of the "Adoration of the Magi", "Spring", "St. Augustine", the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, "The Altar of St. Barnabas". Then a period of serene fullness of feelings: "Mars and Venus", "The Birth of Venus", "Pallas and the Centaur", "Madonna with St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist". However, behind the external perfection of these works, the personality of Botticelli is already palpable far from the way it used to be. Along with the danger that threatens him, aimed at achieving purely external perfection, the artist feels another danger that already threatens all of humanity - the danger of destroying the soul. And Botticelli again experiences creative torment, now as a singer of moral beauty: "Abandoned", "Annunciation", "The Wedding of Our Lady", "Allegory of slander". After the death of Savonarola, Botticelli falls into despair. Trying to understand his feelings, he moves from tenderness in "Nativity" to the heartbreaking motifs of "The Crucifixion" and "Scenes from the Life of St. Zenobius." This is how this path ends - from the idyllic dreams of a sensitive young man to the passionate preaching of the prophet.
The artist's feelings do not lose their sharpness, but become extremely sensitive to questions of conscience and morality. And these feelings of his are even more aggravated under the influence of the dramatic spectacle of venality and corruption, against which the Reformation will soon direct its blows.
Botticelli died in 1510, alone, forgotten, according to Vasari. Perhaps solitude was necessary for the spiritual life of the artist and that this was precisely his salvation.
Like no other painter of the 15th century, Botticelli was endowed with the ability for the subtlest poetic understanding of life. For the first time, he was able to convey the subtle nuances of human experiences. Joyful excitement is replaced in his paintings by melancholy reverie, outbursts of fun - aching melancholy, calm contemplation - uncontrollable passion.
Restless, emotionally refined and subjective, but at the same time infinitely human, Botticelli's art was one of the most peculiar manifestations of Renaissance humanism. The rationalistic spiritual world of the people of the Renaissance Botticelli updated and enriched with his poetic images.
