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ALESSANDRO BOTTICELLI
Self-portrait from
Adoration of the
Magi
Public
domain 1475-76 |
- Sandro Botticelli, born as Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (1445-1510), was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance.
- Botticelli entered Filippo Lippi's workshop toward the end of the 1450s.
- He is best known for painting mythological subjects and a wide range of religious
figures including dozens of renditions of the
Madonna and Child, and also some portraits.
Like Leonardo, Sandro Botticelli was once accused of sodomy, though never prosecuted. Accusations of this kind were common at the time, often as a way of harming reputations. (arnolfinimystery.com)
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- His best-known works are
The Birth of Venus and Primavera, both in the Uffizi
Gallery in Florence, which holds many of his works.
- Much
like Leonardo da Vinci, a fresco in the Palazzo Vecchio, headquarters of the Florentine state, was lost in the next century when Vasari remodeled the building.
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The Priory of Sion - a European secret society founded in 1099 - is a real organization. In 1975 Paris's Bibliothque Nationale discovered parchments known as Les Dossiers Secrets, identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Leonardo da Vinci.
(azquotes.com)
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- The Medici family commissioned a series of artworks painted by Botticelli throughout the late 1400s
that depicted Cosimo de' Medici.
- Botticelli also painted multiple different portraits of Giuliano de' Medici throughout the 1470s.
- He had a reputation for vindictive humor, often expressed in through his paintings,
which was well known in the art community.
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Most scholars agree that The Adoration of the Magi includes the Medici family patron, Cosimo de' Medici and his sons Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (r.1464–1469) and Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici (b.1421-d.1463), as posthumous portraits, as well as his grandsons Lorenzo de' Medici (r.1449–1492) and Giuliano de' Medici (b.1453-d.1478), as living portraits.
(Wikipedia)
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Temptations |
- In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV asked Botticelli to come to Rome to create some frescos for the Sistine Chapel.
- Over the next two years, Botticelli painted three frescos in the Sistine Chapel which
were Temptations of Christ, Punishments of the Sons of Corah, and
Youth of Moses.
- Botticelli is also credited for
painting seven papal portraits of previous popes that were in the window zone of the chapel.
Venus |
- Soon after his work in Rome, Botticelli returned to Florence and created some of his most well-known masterpieces:
Primavera (1482) and The Birth of Venus (1485), which were, like much Florentine art of that day, commissioned by members of the Medici family.
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During the last 15 years of his life, Botticelli's work appeared to undergo a crisis of style and expression.
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As far as the content of the pictures, Botticelli was not one of the decision makers. He was told what subjects to portray and then to portray their stories. Just being able to be part of the project in the Sistine Chapel was a great honor for any artist during that time period.
(historylink101.com)
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Medici sleeper |
- The 1490s was a turbulent decade as the Medici had been expelled from Florence and Italy's peace disrupted by invasion and plagues.
- This was the pinnacle of his career; he only produced
a few more notable works and served on some committees
within the art community.
- The monk who made Botticelli burn his paintings.
- As his work fell out of favor,
Botticelli became melancholic and depressed, until his death in 1510.
- After his death, his name all but disappeared until the late 19th-century, when a developing appreciation for Florentine arts and culture brought about a renewed interest in his work.
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Botticelli rejected the ornamental charm of his earlier works in favor of a more simplistic approach that seemed crude and heavy-handed by contrast. These later paintings, with their deep moral and religious overtones, also suffered a comparison with the sophisticated aesthetic of artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael.
(nationalgallery.org.uk)
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