Sandro Botticelli allegory of power. Angel of Florence: who was the mysterious Venus by Sandro Botticelli

“His purely personal art reflected the face of the century. In it, as if in focus, everything that preceded that moment of culture and everything that then constituted the “present” were combined (A. Benois).

The artist's real name is Alessandro Mariano Di Vanni Di Amedeo Filipepi. He was born into a simple family - his father was a leather tanner, but he was raised by his older brother Antonio, who was a wonderful jeweler. Because of his plumpness, he was nicknamed “Botticello” (barrel), a nickname that passed on to Sandro. But there is an opinion that Botticelli received this nickname for the features of his figure. However, this has nothing to do with his work.
Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510)– famous Italian artist Early Renaissance, representative of the Florentine school. The first thing that catches your eye when looking at Botticelli’s paintings is their spirituality and subtle coloring. It is believed that Botticelli created about 50 paintings.
Sandro studied like all the children of his time, and then became an apprentice in the jewelry workshop of his brother Antonio. But he did not stay there for long and around 1464 he became an apprentice to Filippo Lippi, one of the famous artists of that time.

Influence of Filippo Lippi

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

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

S. Botticelli “Madonna and Child and Two Angels” (1465-1470)
Interesting fact: first Botticelli was a student of Lippi, and then Lippi’s son became a student of Botticelli.
The artists collaborated until 1467, and then their paths diverged: Filippo went to Spoleto, Botticelli remained in Florence and opened his workshop there in 1470.

Works on religious and mythological themes (early works)

Botticelli was close to the court Medici and humanist circles in Florence. And this had great importance, because The Medici, an oligarchic family, were known as patrons of the most prominent artists and architects of the Renaissance. Representatives of this family from the XIII to the XVIII centuries. repeatedly became 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 their oppressors, a symbol of patriotism. When Assyrian troops besieged her hometown, she dressed up and went to the enemy camp, 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 warriors and returned to her saved hometown.
The diptych consists of 2 paintings: “The Return of Judith” and “The Finding of the Body of Holofernes.”
It is the scene of the return of Judith that Botticelli depicts in this painting.

S. Botticelli “The 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 can barely keep up with her fast step, holding with her hand the basket in which the head of King Holofernes is located.
Botticelli does not show Judith as a beautiful and seductive girl (as many artists portrayed her), he gives preference to the heroic moment in Judith’s life.

S. Botticelli “Saint Sebastian” (1474)

Sebastian (Sebastian)- Roman legionnaire, Christian saint, revered as a martyr. He was the chief of the Praetorian Guard under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. He secretly professed Christianity. Two of his friends (brothers Mark and Markellinus) 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 point Mark and Marcellinus 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 Emperor Diocletian ordered him to be taken outside the city, tied and pierced with arrows. Thinking he was dead, the executioners left him lying 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 discovered that he was alive and took him out. Many Christians persuaded 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 woman Lukina and ordered her to take his body and bury him in the catacombs, and the woman fulfilled this command.
In Botticelli's painting, Sebastian is calm, he is not afraid of death; it seems that the arrows pierced into his body do not bother the hero at all. He carried his faith patiently and humbly through all his suffering.

S. Botticelli “Adoration of the Magi” (c. 1475). Uffizi Gallery (Florence)

In the image of the Magi, Botticelli depicted three members of the Medici family: Cosimo the Elder, kneeling before the Virgin Mary, and his sons Piero di Cosimo (the kneeling Magus 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 de’ Medici. He is also depicted in the painting along with his brother Giuliano.

The self-portrait of Botticelli himself is made in the image of a blond youth in a yellow robe at the right edge of the picture.
D. Vasari spoke about this painting in the following way: “It is impossible to describe all the beauty that Sandro put into the image of heads turned in a wide variety of positions - sometimes in front, sometimes in profile, sometimes half-turned, sometimes bowed, or something else.” Otherwise, it is also impossible to describe all the diversity in facial expressions of young men and old men with all the deviations by which one can judge the perfection of his skill, because even in the retinues of three kings he contributed so much distinctive features, that it is easy to understand who serves one and who serves the other. Truly this work is a greatest miracle, and it was brought to such perfection in color, design and composition that every artist is amazed by it to this day.”
At this time, Botticelli painted wonderful portraits.

S. Botticelli “Portrait of an unknown man with a medal of Cosimo de’ Medici the Elder” (c. 1475). Uffizi (Florence)
The picture is written on wooden board tempera. A technique unique to the Renaissance was used: a round niche was made in the board into which a pastilla was inserted - a copy of a medal cast in honor of Cosimo de' Medici around 1465, sculpted from plaster and covered with gold paint.
The artist’s innovation lies in the fact that he depicted the young man almost from the front (previously they depicted the chest strictly in profile), with clearly drawn arms (this had 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 a collective image.
Who was the model? It is difficult to give an answer. And the assumptions are as follows: Simonetta Vespucci (secret love and model of Botticelli and lover of Giuliano Medici); mother or wife of Lorenzo de' Medici (the Magnificent).

In Rome (1481-1482)

By this time Botticelli had become very famous artist not only in Florence, but also beyond. His orders were very numerous. Pope Sixtus IV, who built the chapel in his Roman palace, also wanted it to be painted by Sandro Botticelli. In 1481 Botticelli came to Rome. Together with Ghirlandaio, Rosselli and Perugino, he decorated the walls of the papal chapel in the Vatican, which is known as the Sistine Chapel, with frescoes. 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 Korah, Daphne and Abiron”, “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 depicted 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 tries to force Jesus to jump from the top of the Jerusalem Temple to test God's promise of angelic protection. On the right, the devil on the 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 cured 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 for the sake of humanity, and was later resurrected.
Some foreground figures are portraits of the author's contemporaries.

Botticelli's paintings of secular themes

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

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

S. Botticelli “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”). A naked goddess swims to the shore in the shell of a shell, driven by the wind. On the left side of the painting, Zephyr (the west wind), in the arms of his wife Chloris (Roman Flora), blows on a shell, creating a wind filled with flowers. On the shore, the goddess is met by one of the graces.
The pose of Venus clearly shows the influence of classical Greek sculpture. Body proportions are based on the canon of harmony and beauty.
The work of Sandro Botticelli is distinguished by a special melodiousness of line in each of his paintings, a sense of rhythm and harmony, but they are especially clearly expressed in his “Spring” and “Birth of Venus”. The artist never used stencil techniques, so his paintings also excite the modern viewer.

Religious paintings by S. Botticelli from the 1480s

Botticelli's religious works of this time are supreme creative achievements painter.

"Madonna Magnificat"(1481-1485) became famous during the artist’s lifetime. 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 writes 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.

Late works of Sandro Botticelli

In the 1490s, the artist was in a difficult moral state. The death of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the capture of Florence by French troops and the apocalyptic views of Savonarola, with whom Botticelli sympathized, all had a strong impact on his consciousness. His paintings of this period are full of drama, melancholy and hopelessness (“Abandoned”, “Mourning of Christ”, “Slander”, etc.).

S. Botticelli “Abandoned” (c. 1495). Rome, Pallavicini collection
The lonely young woman is depicted in great grief and confusion. A crouched figure against the backdrop of a blank wall - and there is nothing else in this extraordinary and strange picture. Who is this woman? Her face could explain something to us, but her face is just not visible. Worn dresses hint at a long, lonely and hopeless journey. Shirts are spread out on the steps like corpses... “Abandoned” has so many meanings that true meaning it is broader 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 they stood at the cross, watching his torment and death. Joseph from Arimathea came to Pilate and 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 coffin, which he carved into the rock - in the coffin that Joseph, anticipating his own death, prepared for himself.
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 as a mother. Mary Magdalene hugs the feet, 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.
Botticelli's work vividly embodies the features of sublime poetry, sophistication, sophistication, spirituality, and beauty. This is one of the most emotional and lyrical artists of the Renaissance.

Botticelli Sandro(Botticelli, Sandro)

Botticelli Sandro(Botticelli, Sandro) (1445–1510), one of the most prominent artists of the Renaissance. Born in Florence in 1444 into the family of leather tanner Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (Botticelli's nickname, meaning "barrel", actually belonged to his older brother). After initial training with a jeweler, approx. 1462 Botticelli entered the workshop of one of the leading painters of Florence, Fra Filippo Lippi. The style of Filippo Lippi had a huge influence on Botticelli, manifested mainly in certain types of faces, ornamental details and color. In his works of the late 1460s, the fragile, flat linearity and grace adopted from Filippo Lippi are replaced by a more powerful interpretation of figures and a new understanding of the plasticity of volumes. Around the same time, Botticelli began to use energetic ocher shadows to convey flesh color - a technique that became characteristic feature his painting style. These changes appear fully in Botticelli's earliest documented painting Allegory of Power (c. 1470, Florence, Uffizi Gallery) and in less pronounced form in two early Madonnas (Naples, Capodimonte Gallery; Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum). Two famous paired compositions The Story of Judith (Florence, Uffizi), also among the master’s early works (c. 1470), illustrate another important aspect of Botticelli’s painting: a lively and capacious narrative, in which expression and action are combined, revealing the dramatic essence with complete clarity plot. They also reveal an already begun change in color, which becomes brighter and more saturated, in contrast to the pale palette of Filippo Lippi, which predominates in the early painting

Botticelli - Adoration of the Magi (London, National Gallery).

Botticelli's paintings: Among Botticelli's works, only a few have reliable dating; many of his paintings have been dated based on stylistic analysis famous works dated back to the 1470s: the painting of St. Sebastian (1473), the earliest depiction of a nude body in the master’s work; Adoration of the Magi (c. 1475, Uffizi). Two portraits - young man(Florence, Pitti Gallery) and a Florentine Lady (London, Victoria and Albert Museum) - date back to the early 1470s. Somewhat later, perhaps in 1476, a portrait of Giuliano de' Medici, Lorenzo's brother, was made (Washington, National Gallery). The works of this decade demonstrate the gradual growth of Botticelli's artistic skill. He used the techniques and principles outlined in the first outstanding theoretical treatise on Renaissance painting, by Leon Battista Alberti (On Painting, 1435–1436), and experimented with perspective. By the end of the 1470s, Botticelli's works had lost the stylistic fluctuations and direct borrowings from other artists that characterized his earlier works. By this time, he already confidently mastered a completely individual style: the figures of the characters acquired a strong structure, and their contours amazingly

combine clarity and elegance with energy; dramatic expressiveness is achieved by combining active action and deep inner experience. All these qualities are present in the fresco of St. Augustine (Florence, Church of Ognisanti), painted in 1480 as a pair composition to Ghirlandaio’s fresco of St. Jerome.

In 1481, Botticelli was invited by Pope Sixtus IV to Rome, along with Cosimo Rosselli and Ghirlandaio, to paint frescoes on the side walls of the newly built Sistine Chapel. He executed three of these frescoes: Scenes from life of Moses, Healing of the leper and the temptation of Christ and the Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Abiron. In all three frescoes the problem of presenting a complex theological program in clear, light and lively dramatic scenes is masterfully solved; this makes full use of compositional effects.

After returning to Florence, perhaps at the end of 1481 or beginning of 1482, Botticelli painted his famous paintings on mythological themes: Spring, Pallas and the Centaur, the Birth of Venus (all in the Uffizi) and Venus and Mars (London, National Gallery), belonging to the number the most famous works of the Renaissance and representing genuine masterpieces Western European art. The characters and plots of these paintings are inspired by the works of ancient poets, primarily Lucretius and Ovid, as well as mythology. They feel the influence of ancient art, a good knowledge of classical sculpture or sketches from it, which were widespread during the Renaissance.

Thus, the graces from Spring go back to the classical group of the three graces, and the pose of Venus from the Birth of Venus - to the type Venus Pudica (Bashful Venus).

Some scholars see in these paintings a visual embodiment of the main ideas of the Florentine Neoplatonists, especially Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499). However, adherents of this hypothesis ignore the sensual element in the three paintings of Venus and the glorification of purity and purity, which is undoubtedly the theme of Pallas and the Centaur. The most plausible hypothesis is that all four paintings were painted on the occasion of a wedding. They are the most remarkable surviving works of this genre of painting, which glorifies marriage and the virtues associated with the birth of love in the soul of an immaculate and beautiful bride. The same ideas are central to four compositions illustrating the story of Boccaccio Nastagio degli Onesti (located in different collections), and two frescoes (Louvre), painted around 1486 on the occasion of the marriage of the son of one of the closest associates of the Medici., are also present in several of Botticelli's famous altarpieces painted during the 1480s. Among the best are the Bardi Altar with the image of the Virgin and Child and St. John the Baptist (1484) and the Annunciation by Cestello (1484–1490, Uffizi). But in Cestello’s Annunciation the first signs of mannerism already appear, which gradually grew in later works Botticelli, leading him away from the fullness and richness of nature of the mature period of creativity to a style in which the artist admires the features of his own manner. The proportions of the figures are violated to enhance psychological expressiveness. This style, in one form or another, is characteristic of Botticelli's works of the 1490s and early 1500s, even of the allegorical painting Calumny (Uffizi), in which the master exalts his own work, associating it with the work of Apelles, the greatest of the ancient Greek painters. Two paintings painted after the fall of the Medici in 1494 and influenced by the preaching of Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498) are the Crucifixion (Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fogg Art Museum) and Mystical Christmas

(1500, London, National Gallery) - represent the embodiment of Botticelli's unshakable faith in the revival of the Church. These two paintings reflect the artist's rejection of the secular Florence of the Medici era. Other works by the master, such as Scenes from the Life of the Roman Virginia (Bergamo, Accademia Carrara) and Scenes from the Life of the Roman Lucretia (Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), express his hatred of the tyranny of the Medici. Few drawings by Botticelli himself have survived, although it is known that he was often commissioned to design designs for textiles and engravings. Of exceptional interest is his series of illustrations for Divine Comedy Dante. In-depth graphic commentary on great poem

largely remained unfinished. About 50 paintings are entirely or largely by Botticelli. He was the head of a thriving workshop, working in the same genres as the master himself, in which products were created different quality

. Many of the paintings were painted by Botticelli’s own hand or made according to his plans. Almost all of them are characterized by a pronounced flatness and linearity in the interpretation of form, combined with outright mannerism. Botticelli died in Florence on May 17, 1510.

We continue the story about the work of Sandro Botticelli. Two of Botticelli's most famous paintings , so-called " Primavera " ("Spring") and "" were commissioned by the Medici and embody the cultural atmosphere that arose in the medical circle. Art historians are unanimous these works date back 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 rule of his son Piero, for which they earned themselves the nickname "dei Popolani" (Popolanskaya). Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco was a student of Marsilio Ficino. For your villas in Castello he ordered frescoes from the artist, and these two paintings were also intended for her.

In art historical research, the content of these paintings is interpreted in various ways, including it is associated with classical poetry, in particular, with the lines of Horace and Ovid. But along with this, the concept of Botticell’s compositions should have reflected the ideas of Ficino, which found their poetic embodiment in Poliziano.

The presence of Venus here symbolizes not sensual love in its pagan understanding, 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 of a cosmological-spiritual nature. The fertilizing Zephyr unites with Flora, giving birth to Primavera, Spring - symbol of the life-giving forces of Nature. Venus in the center of the composition (above her is Cupid blindfolded) - identified with Humanitas - complex of human spiritual properties , manifestations of which represent the three Graces; Mercury, looking upward, scatters the clouds with its caduceus.

How beautiful is each group in the famous painting by Sandro Botticelli - “Spring” (also in the Uffizi), united, full of rhythmic movement, blissfully conjugating with all the lines of the neighboring figures. Perhaps the ancient scenes of these compositions were suggested by the poet Poliziano, who worked at the court of Lorenzo. But their rhythm and charm are purely Botticelli.

then we see Venus,dance of the three graces

and, finally, Mercury, who, looking upward, removes with his caduceus the veil of clouds that prevents contemplation.

What is the content of the picture? Researchers have offered several interpretations. The theme of the composition is spring with its accompanying ancient deities. The center of the construction is Venus - not the embodiment of base passion, but the noble goddess of flowering and all goodwill on earth; this is a neoplatonic image. Expanding this context, scientists argued that the painting reflects the idea of ​​the generation of beauty by the light of divine love and the contemplation of this beauty, leading from the earthly to the superterrestrial .

In the literature about Botticelli, it is common to another interpretation three listed characters: it is believed that Zephyr, the nymph Chloris and the goddess of flowering Flora, born in the union of Chloris with Zemphyr, are represented here.

Venus, central figure composition, stands under the canopy of trees in this enchanted space of the spring forest. Her dress made of the finest fabric with golden threads of decoration and a luxurious scarlet cloak, symbolizing love, indicate that before us is the goddess of love and beauty. But other features also appear in her fragile appearance. The bowed head is covered with a gauze blanket, the kind Sandro liked to dress his Madonnas in. Venus's face with questioningly raised eyebrows expresses sadness and modesty; the meaning of her gesture is unclear - is it a greeting, timid defense or blissful acceptance?

The character resembles the Virgin Mary in the subject of the Annunciation (for example, in the painting by Alesso Baldovinetti). The pagan and Christian are hidden in a spiritualized image.

In other figures the compositions are also captured associations with religious motives. So, images of Zephyr and the nymph Chloris echo the medieval image of the devil not allowing souls into Paradise .

Graces, companions and maids of Venus, - the virtues generated by Beauty, their names - Chastity, Love, Pleasure . Botticelli's depiction of the beautiful triad is the very embodiment of dance. Slender figures with elongated, smoothly curving forms are intertwined in a rhythmic sequence of circular movement. The artist is extremely inventive in his interpretation of hairstyles, conveying hair simultaneously as a natural element and as a decorative material. Grace's hair is collected in strands, sometimes finely curly, sometimes falling in waves, sometimes scattering over her shoulders, like golden streams.

Light bends and turns of figures, dialogue of glances, graceful joining of hands and placement of feet - all this conveys the progressive rhythm of the dance. The relationships of its participants reflect the classical formula and at the same time the Neoplatonic understanding of Eros: Love leads Chastity to Pleasure and binds their hands . In Botticelli's image the idea of ​​mythological splendor comes to life, but his images are colored with genuine purity.

Let's move on to the second picture. (there was already a publication about this picture on the community pages , but I will try to dwell here on those points that were not touched upon in the previous publication)

"" ("Spring") and ""around 1477-85 Uffizi Gallery, Florence

The plot of Botticelli's masterpiece is resurrected one of the most poetic legends of Ancient Greece. The goddess of love Aphrodite in Roman mythology - Venus) was born from the foam of sea waves near the island of Cyprus. Marshmallow(the west wind) blows on the shell with the young beauty and drives it to the shore. Roses fall from his breath, and they seem to fill the picture with a subtle fragrance. Zephyr is depicted in the arms of his wife Chloris(the Romans called it Flora), mistress of the plant kingdom. Spring awaits Venus, ready to throw regal clothes on the goddess of love to hide the perfect beauty of her body. Spring's neck is decorated with a garland of evergreen myrtle, symbolizing eternal love.

The artist uses the gentle tones of dawn to carnate the figures rather than to interpret their surroundings. spatial environment, they are also attached to light robes, enlivened by the finest pattern of cornflowers and daisies. The optimism of the humanistic myth organically combined here with the light melancholy characteristic of Botticelli’s art. But after the creation of these paintings, contradictions gradually deepened in culture and fine arts The Renaissance also affected the artist. The first signs of this become noticeable in his work in the early 1480s.

For the painting, the artist chose the pose of “chaste Venus,” shyly covering her captivating nakedness. The prototype of the goddess with the face of the Madonna was again Simonetta Vespucci.

As noted in the post This painting by Botticelli inspired many poets when creating their works. Poems were given in the tagged post Novels by Matveeva And Fields Valerie. I'll give you another poem here. Sarah Bernhardt "Birth of Venus"

It hit. Grumbled. It's gone.
A multi-row of whirlwinds rose up from the bottom.
Ascended from the milky white foam
born Venus... Immediately it became quiet,

clinging to her divine feet.
The salty tongue caresses the nakedness...
Marshmallows are heading to the shores
her boat. On earth in love

meets the nymph. There are flowers in the air
spinning and flying quietly into the water...
Her face is full of dreams -
oh, the sensuality of Nature's insight.

Love goddess: gold hair,
the face of a teenager, the body without flaws -
a premonition of passions... A silent question -
does she care about these mortals?

Botticelli Sandro [actually Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi] (1445, Florence - May 17, 1510, Florence), the great Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, a representative of the Florentine school. Sandro Botticelli is one of the most bright artists Italian Renaissance. He created allegorical images captivating in their sublimity and gave the world an ideal female beauty. Born into the family of leather tanner Mariano di Vanni Filipepi; The nickname “Botticello” - “barrel” - was inherited from his older brother Giovanni.

Among the first information about the artist is an entry in the cadastre of 1458, made by his father about his ill health. youngest son. After completing his studies, Botticelli became an apprentice in the jewelry workshop of his brother Antonio, but did not stay there for long and around 1464 he became an apprentice to the monk Fra Filippo Lippi from the monastery of Carmine, one of the most famous artists that time.

Filippo Lippi's style influenced young artist a huge influence, manifested mainly in certain types of faces (in a three-quarter turn), decorative and ornamental patterns of draperies, hands, a penchant for detail and a soft, lightened color, in its “waxy” glow. There is no exact information about the period of Botticelli's studies with Filippo Lippi and about their personal relationships, but it can be assumed that they got along well with each other, since a few years later Lippi's son became Botticelli's student. Their collaboration continued until 1467, when Filippo moved to Spoleto and Sandro opened his workshop in Florence.

In the works of the late 1460s, the fragile, flat linearity and grace adopted by the young painter from Filippo Lippi are replaced by a more voluminous interpretation of figures. Around the same time, Botticelli began using ocher shadows to convey flesh tones, a technique that became a prominent feature of his style. Early works characterized by a clear construction of space, clear cut-and-shade modeling, and interest in everyday details (“Adoration of the Magi,” circa 1474–1475, Uffizi).

From the end of the 1470s, after the artist’s rapprochement with the court of the Medici rulers of Florence and the circle of Florentine humanists, the features of aristocracy and sophistication intensified in his work, paintings on ancient and allegorical themes appeared, in which sensual pagan images are imbued with the sublime and at the same time poetic, lyrical spirituality (“Spring”, circa 1477–1478, “Birth of Venus”, circa 1482–1483, both in the Uffizi). The animation of the landscape, the fragile beauty of the figures, the musicality of light, trembling lines, the transparency of exquisite colors, as if woven from reflexes, create in them an atmosphere of dreaminess and slight sadness.

The artist’s easel portraits (portrait of a man with a medal, 1474, Uffizi Gallery, Florence; portrait of Giuliano Medici, 1470s, Bergamo; and others) are characterized by a combination of subtle nuances internal state the human soul and clear detailing of the characters portrayed. Thanks to the Medici, Botticelli became closely acquainted with the ideas of humanists (a significant number of them were part of the Medici circle, a kind of elite intellectual center of Renaissance Florence), many of which were reflected in his work. For example, mythological paintings (“Pallas Athena and the Centaur”, 1482; “Venus and Mars”, 1483 and others) were, naturally, painted by the artist at the request of the cultural elite and were intended to decorate the palazzo or villas of noble Florentine customers. Before the time of Sandro Botticelli, mythological themes in painting were found in decorative wedding decorations and objects applied arts, only occasionally becoming the subject of painting.

In 1481, Sandro Botticelli received an honorary commission from Pope Sixtus IV. The Pontiff had just completed the construction of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican Palace and wished that best artists decorated it with their frescoes. Along with the most famous masters monumental painting of that time - Perugino, Cosimo Rossellini, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Pinturicchino and Signorelli - at the direction of the pope, Botticelli was also invited. In the frescoes executed by the painter in 1481–1482 Sistine Chapel in the Vatican (“Scenes from the Life of Moses”, “The Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Abiron”, “The Healing of the Leper and the Temptation of Christ”), the majestic harmony of landscape and ancient architecture is combined with internal plot tension, poignancy portrait characteristics. In all three frescoes, the artist masterfully solved the problem of presenting a complex theological program in clear, light and lively dramatic scenes; this makes full use of compositional effects.

Botticelli returned to Florence in the summer of 1482, perhaps due to the death of his father, but most likely on business in his own busy workshop. Between 1480 and 1490, his fame reached its apogee, and he began to receive such a huge number of orders that it was almost impossible to cope with them himself, so most The paintings “Madonna and Child” were completed by his students, who diligently, but not always brilliantly, copied the style of their master. During these years, Botticelli painted several frescoes for the Medici at the Villa Spedaletto in Volterra (1483–84), a painting for the altar niche in the Bardi Chapel at the Church of Santo Spirito (1485) and several allegorical frescoes at the Villa Lemmi. The magical grace, beauty, richness of imagination and brilliant execution inherent in paintings on mythological themes are also present in several of Botticelli's famous altarpieces painted during the 1480s. Among the best are the Bardi altarpiece with the image of the Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist (1485) and the “Annunciation by Cestello” (1489–1490, Uffizi).

In the 1490s, during the era of social unrest and mystical-ascetic sermons of the monk Savonarola that shook Florence, notes of drama, moralizing and religious exaltation appeared in Botticelli’s art (“Lamentation of Christ”, after 1490, Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan; “Slander” , after 1495, Uffizi). The sharp contrasts of bright color spots, the internal tension of the drawing, the dynamics and expression of the images indicate an extraordinary change in the artist’s worldview - towards greater religiosity and even a kind of mysticism. However, his drawings for Dante’s “Divine Comedy” (1492–1497, Engraving Cabinet, Berlin, and the Vatican Library), with acute emotional expressiveness, retain lightness of line and Renaissance clarity of images.

Fragments of paintings and frescoes by the artist

In the last years of the artist’s life, his fame was declining: the era of new art was coming and, accordingly, new fashion and new tastes. In 1505, he became a member of the city committee, which was supposed to determine the location of the installation of the statue by Michelangelo - his “David”, but other than this fact, other information about the last years of Botticelli’s life is unknown. It is noteworthy that when in 1502 Isabella d'Este was looking for a Florentine artist for herself and Botticelli agreed to the work, she rejected his services. Vasari in his Lives painted a depressing picture recent years the artist's life, describing him as a poor man, "old and useless", unable to stand on his feet without the help of crutches. Most likely, the image of a completely forgotten and poor artist is the creation of Vasari, who was prone to extremes in the biographies of artists.

Sandro Botticelli died in 1510; This is how the Quattrocento ended - this happiest era in Florentine art. Great painter died at the age of 65 and was buried in the cemetery of the Florentine Church of Ognissanti. Until the 19th century, when his work was rediscovered by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti and art critics Walter Pater and John Ruskin, his name was virtually forgotten in art history. In Botticelli’s work, the Pre-Raphaelites saw something akin to the preferences of their era - spiritual grace and melancholy, “sympathy for humanity in its unstable states,” traits of morbidity and decadence. The next generation of researchers of Botticelli's painting, for example Herbert Horn, who wrote in the first decades of the 20th century, discerned something else in it - the ability to convey the plasticity and proportions of the figure - that is, signs of an energetic language characteristic of the art of the early Renaissance. We have quite different estimates. What defines the art of the great Florentine of the Quattrocento period? The 20th century has done a lot to bring us closer to understanding it. The master’s paintings were organically included in the context of his time, connecting them with the artistic life, literature and humanistic ideas of Florence. Botticelli's painting, attractive and mysterious, is in tune with the worldview not only of the early Renaissance, but also of our time.

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Botticelli Sandro [actually Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi] (1445, Florence - May 17, 1510, Florence), Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, representative of the Florentine school. Sandro Botticelli is one of the most prominent artists of the Italian Renaissance. He created allegorical images that were captivating in their sublimity and gave the world the ideal of female beauty. Born into the family of leather tanner Mariano di Vanni Filipepi; The nickname “Botticello” - “barrel” - was inherited from his older brother Giovanni. Among the first information about the artist is an entry in the cadastre of 1458, made by a father about the ill health of his youngest son. After completing his studies, Botticelli became an apprentice in the jewelry workshop of his brother Antonio, but did not stay there for long and around 1464 he became an apprentice to the monk Fra Filippo Lippi from the monastery of Carmine, one of the most famous artists of that time.

The style of Filippo Lippi had a huge influence on Botticelli, manifested mainly in certain types of faces (in a three-quarter turn), decorative and ornamental patterns of draperies, hands, a penchant for detail and a soft, lightened color, in its “waxy” glow. There is no exact information about the period of Botticelli's studies with Filippo Lippi and about their personal relationships, but it can be assumed that they got along well with each other, since a few years later Lippi's son became Botticelli's student. Their collaboration continued until 1467, when Filippo moved to Spoleto and Botticelli opened his workshop in Florence. In the works of the late 1460s, the fragile, flat linearity and grace adopted from Filippo Lippi are replaced by a more voluminous interpretation of figures. Around the same time, Botticelli began using ocher shadows to convey flesh color, a technique that became a prominent feature of his style. The early works of Sandro Botticelli are characterized by a clear construction of space, clear cut-and-shadow modeling, and interest in everyday details (“Adoration of the Magi”, circa 1474–1475, Uffizi).

From the end of the 1470s, after Botticelli’s rapprochement with the court of the Medici rulers of Florence and the circle of Florentine humanists, the features of aristocracy and sophistication intensified in his work, paintings on ancient and allegorical themes appeared, in which sensual pagan images are imbued with the sublime and at the same time poetic, lyrical spirituality (“Spring”, circa 1477–1478, “Birth of Venus”, circa 1482–1483, both in the Uffizi). The animation of the landscape, the fragile beauty of the figures, the musicality of light, trembling lines, the transparency of exquisite colors, as if woven from reflexes, create in them an atmosphere of dreaminess and slight sadness.

The artist’s easel portraits (portrait of a man with a medal, 1474, Uffizi Gallery, Florence; portrait of Giuliano Medici, 1470s, Bergamo; and others) are characterized by a combination of subtle nuances of the internal state human soul and clear detailing of the characters portrayed. Thanks to the Medici, Botticelli became closely acquainted with the ideas of humanists (a significant number of them were part of the Medici circle, a kind of elite intellectual center of Renaissance Florence), many of which were reflected in his work. For example, mythological paintings (“Pallas Athena and the Centaur”, 1482; “Venus and Mars”, 1483 and others) were, naturally, painted by the artist Botticelli at the request of the cultural elite and were intended to decorate the palazzo or villas of noble Florentine customers. Before the work of Sandro Botticelli, mythological themes in painting were found in decorative jewelry wedding cassone and objects of applied art, only occasionally becoming the subject of painting.

In 1481, Sandro Botticelli received an honorary commission from Pope Sixtus IV. The Pontiff had just completed the construction of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican Palace and wanted the best artists to decorate it with their frescoes. Along with the most famous masters of monumental painting of that time - Perugino, Cosimo Rossellini, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Pinturicchino and Signorelli - Botticelli was also invited at the direction of the pope. In the frescoes executed by Sandro Botticelli in 1481–1482 in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican (“Scenes from the Life of Moses”, “The Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Abiron”, “The Healing of the Leper and the Temptation of Christ”), the majestic harmony of landscape and ancient architecture is combined with internal plot tension , sharpness of portrait characteristics. In all three frescoes, the artist masterfully solved the problem of presenting a complex theological program in clear, light and lively dramatic scenes; this makes full use of compositional effects.

Botticelli returned to Florence in the summer of 1482, perhaps due to the death of his father, but most likely on business in his own busy workshop. In the period between 1480 and 1490, his fame reached its apogee, and he began to receive such a huge number of orders that it was almost impossible to cope with them himself, so most of the Madonna and Child paintings were completed by his students, diligently, but not always brilliantly who copied the style of their master. During these years, Sandro Botticelli painted for the Medici several frescoes at the Villa Spedaletto in Volterra (1483–84), a painting for the altar niche in the Bardi Chapel at the Church of Santo Spirito (1485) and several allegorical frescoes at the Villa Lemmi. The magical grace, beauty, richness of imagination and brilliant execution inherent in paintings on mythological themes are also present in several of Botticelli's famous altarpieces painted during the 1480s. Among the best are the Bardi altarpiece with the image of the Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist (1485) and the “Annunciation by Cestello” (1489–1490, Uffizi).

In the 1490s, during the era of social unrest and mystical-ascetic sermons of the monk Savonarola that shook Florence, notes of drama, moralizing and religious exaltation appeared in Botticelli’s art (“Lamentation of Christ”, after 1490, Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan; “Slander” , after 1495, Uffizi). The sharp contrasts of bright color spots, the internal tension of the drawing, the dynamics and expression of the images indicate an extraordinary change in the artist’s worldview - towards greater religiosity and even a kind of mysticism. However, his drawings for Dante’s “Divine Comedy” (1492–1497, Engraving Cabinet, Berlin, and the Vatican Library), with acute emotional expressiveness, retain lightness of line and Renaissance clarity of images.

In the last years of the artist’s life, his fame was declining: the era of new art was coming and, accordingly, new fashion and new tastes. In 1505, he became a member of the city committee, which was supposed to determine the location of the installation of the statue by Michelangelo - his “David”, but other than this fact, other information about the last years of Botticelli’s life is unknown. It is noteworthy that when in 1502 Isabella d'Este was looking for a Florentine artist for herself and Botticelli agreed to the work, she rejected his services. Vasari in his “Biographies...” painted a depressing picture of the last years of the artist’s life, describing him as a poor man, “old and useless,” unable to stand on his feet without the help of crutches. Most likely, the image of a completely forgotten and poor artist is the creation of Vasari, who was prone to extremes in the biographies of artists.

Sandro Botticelli died in 1510; This is how the Quattrocento ended - this happiest era in Florentine art. Botticelli died at the age of 65 and was buried in the cemetery of the Florentine Church of Ognissanti. Until the 19th century, when his work was rediscovered by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti and art critics Walter Pater and John Ruskin, his name was virtually forgotten in art history. In Botticelli they saw something akin to the preferences of their era - spiritual grace and melancholy, “sympathy for humanity in its unstable states,” traits of morbidity and decadence. The next generation of researchers of Botticelli's painting, for example Herbert Horn, who wrote in the first decades of the 20th century, discerned something different in it - the ability to convey the plasticity and proportions of a figure - that is, signs of an energetic language characteristic of the art of the early Renaissance. We have quite different estimates. What defines Botticelli's art? The 20th century has done a lot to bring us closer to understanding it. The master’s paintings were organically included in the context of his time, connecting them with the artistic life, literature and humanistic ideas of Florence. Botticelli's painting, attractive and mysterious, is in tune with the worldview not only of the early Renaissance, but also of our time.