M^

BEL-TIB J ROOM
J 759.4 Botti- celli
Botticelli : the allegory
of spring
31111021559818
 FEDERICO ZERI (Rome, 1921-1998), eminent art his-

torian and critic, was vice-president of the National

Council for Cultural and Environmental Treasures from

1993. Member of the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris,
he was decorated with the Legion of Honor by the French
govermnent. Author of numerous artistic and literary

publications; among the most well-knovm: Pittura e con

troriforma, the Catalogue of Italian Painters in the Met-
ropolitan Museum of New York and the Walters Gallery

of Baltimora, and the book Confesso che ho sbagliato.

Work edited by FEDERICO ZERI

Text
based on the interviews between
Federico Zeri and Marco Dolcetta

This edition is published for North America in 2000 by NDE Pubhshing*

Chief Editor of 2000 EngUsh Language Edition

Elena Mazour {NDE Publishing*)

English Translation
SiisAN Scon
Realization
Ultreya, Milan

Editing
Lmira Chiara Colombo, Ultreya, Milan

Desktop Publishing
Elisa Ghiotto

ISBN 1-55321-014-X

Illustration references

Alinari Archives: 2a, 5as, 18s-d, 23, 26s, 27, 38d, 44/III-IV-V-VlII, 45/XI.

Alinari/Giraudon Archives: 1, 2-3, 4, 5bs-d, 6-7, 7bs-d, 8, 9 as-d, 10, 10-lla-b, Ubs-d, 12a-cs-b,

13, 14s, 14-15, 20s, 30a, 32, 34-35, 37a, 44/XI, 45A'-VI-X, 47.

Bridgeman/Alinari Archive: 30-31, 35b, 36b, 43, 45/IIMX.

Giraudon/Alinari Archives: 9bs, 28b, 45/rV.

Luisa Ricciarlni Agency: 2b,16, 17d, 19s-d, 20d, 21d, 22b, 24a, 24-25, 26d, 28a, 29, 31a, 32-33,
44/Ml-VI-VII-lX-X-XlI, 4.5/I-1I.

RCS Ubri Archive: 22a, 24b, 35a, 36c, 37b, 38s, 39a-b, 45Aai-VIII-XII-XIII-XIV, 46.

R.D.: 6b, 7as, llas-c, 12cd, 14ad-bd, 16a, 17as-bs, 21s, 36a, 40, 41, 42.

© 1998 RCS Libri S.p.A. Milan, Italy

© 2000 NDE Canada Corp. for English language edition

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The captions of the paintings contained in this volume include, beyond just the title of the
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 BOTTICELU
THE ALLEGORY OF SPRING
Nature, such an important presence in Renaissance art, is

celebrated in THE ALLEGORY OF SPRING with a

proftision of light and color This painting is among the
most mysterious in all the history of art, and scholars have
long tried to unlock its arcane secrets. Even after the

various personages have been identified, the overall

meaning still remains uncertain. Tlie expression of a

culture imbued with symbolic and allegorical allusions like
that of the fifteenth century, the painting lends itself to the

most varied hypotheses for interpretation.

 A GARDEN OF DELIGHTS
FOR CULTURE
THE ALLEGORY OF SPRING
C.1482
• Florence, Uffizi (tempera
on panel, 314 x 203 cm)
• This title, by which the work
has been known for some time, is

based on Vasari's description:

"Venus, whom the Graces are cov-
ering with flowers, as a symbol of

spring". TTie subject of this refined,

cerebral painting is difficuk to interpret. Scholars have strug-

gled for decades to elaborate theories to explain every detail of the

picture, but no one has yet succeeded in revealing its meaning

completely.

• It is not even certain exactly who commissioned the work, but

the person who ordered the painting from Alessandro Filipepi,

called Sandro Botticelli, had to have been a member of the rich and
powerfiil Medici family The presence of The Allegory of Spring in
their villa at Castello has in the past led historians to conclude that
the patron was Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, the cousin of Lorenzo

the Magnificent, and that the work was painted before Botticelli

went to Rome. Now, the tendency is to think that TJie Allegory of

Spring was commissioned by Lorenzo the Magnificent for the wed-

ding of his cousin Lorenzo to Semiramide Appiani, and thus that

it was painted around 1482.

I In this case, the recently offered interpreta-

tion, which holds that a Latin text by Martianus

Capella entitled De nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae
Irs
contains a description of the subject repre-

^- sented here, is in line with the occasion which

seems to have generated the painting. This

late Roman text was known in the Middle
Ages and Renaissance, as it was studied in

'j^ ..^^^^^^A. schools of rhetoric.

THE PATRON in his Adoration of the

ANDTHFwlRTIST Magi in the Uffizi.

i At left is Above, Portrait
1 Botticelli's of Lorenzo the
presumed Magnificent
self-portrait. by Giorgio Vasari
as it appears (Florence, Uffizi).
ANALYSIS OF THE WORK: THE CHARACTERS

A HARMONY OF SINGLE FIGURES

search for the beautiful as a value in itself, that is pro- Next to her is another female figure (the goddess Flora) wear-
The duced by art, places Botticelli on a different plane from ing a flowered dress and carrying flowers, which she scatters

his contemporaries Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, as she walks. In the center a standing figure makes a gesture

who considered art to be a means of investigation and knowl- of benediction: she is the goddess Venus who, with her head
edge of nature and history. Botticelli - in this sense he belongs tilted slightly to one side, looks out of the picture, with Cupid
more to the fifteenth than the sixteenth century - aims in his flying above her about to shoot an arrow at one of the dancers
work at elaborating a philosophy which unites art, thought, in the trio below. On the left, the dancing group of women wear-
and poetry. This is the source of the real difficulty in interpret- ing veiled garments is easily identified as the three Graces. On
ing some of his works, as is the case with The Allegory of Spring. the far left Mercury, covered only by a red chlamys, lifts his ca-

• A first look at the panel - which should be read from right duceus toward the top of the trees to dispel the clouds.

to left - allows us to approach the nine figures present in the • The scene takes place in a thick woods; a blue-gray light fil-

scene, who appear in perfect harmony but not connected with ters through from the back, allowing us to gUmpse a veiled

each other. Zephyrus, the wind of spring, grabs a nude woman panorama on the far edge of the horizon. A meadow embroi-
clad only in thin veils - the nymph Chloris - and weds her: flow- dered with a profusion of flowers forms the soft carpet on
ers stream out of the mouth of the impregnated goddess. which the figures move.
 i/'v^^"-
m
^»^
THE TRANSMUTATION
The wood nymph ?. *
Chloris, seized and
impregnated by the
west wind Zephyrus,
the wind of spring, v?/
is transformed into
a goddess, Flora,
the bearer of spring.
In a passage from
Ovid's Fasti, Chloris
states: "I was Chloris,

who am now called

Flora." Given the

learned and refined
sphere in which
Botticelli moved, it is

highly probable that this

is the literary source for
the representation.

¥&A

\m
ANALYSIS OF THE WORK: THE CHARACTERS

THE ANGEUC frequently cited Angels Musicians (1447-

SHARPSHOOTER genealogies in the 54) in the Tempio
Cupid flies above literary sources - Malatestiano in Rimini,
Venus's head, thus puts the figure of the work of the
blindfolded and ready Venus in relationship Florentine sculptor
to shoot his burning with all the figures Agostino di Duccio,
arrow toward on the left side of the of which a section is

the central figure of painting: Mercury shown at right.

the Graces: Chastity. and the Graces. The linear rhythm
The chubby littie god From an exclusively which empties the
of love - the son stylistic point of view, shapes of their volume
and
of Aphrodite a precedent for is the element which
Hermes, according to Botticelli's Cupid more than any other
one of the most can be found in the unites the two works.
 - »^
'-d'

^«Va

/ ,

A REGAL PROGRESS
The posture, the gesture
of greeting, the drapery,
and the architecture
surrounding the figure,

above, of Venus Victrix

(London, British
Museum) are the same
as for the Venus in
Botticelli's picture.

During his time, this

Romcm relief, the statue

of Pomona, and a lost

relief showing the \i 4

Graces were present,
one next to the other,

in the Roman collection

of the Del Bufalo family,

offering a sort of curious
foreshadowing of
The Allegory of Spring. The
canopy around the Vemis
Victrix is maintained and
transformed
by the artist into

an architecture
of vegetation more
fitting with the natural
environment chosen as H-
setting for the scene.

WJ^
 -M

A PROTECTIVE
FIGURE
The figure of Mercury,
turning his back on
the rest of the painting
and seemingly
extraneous to what
is happening there,
is intriguing.

In reality, he performs
a protective function
for the garden, as with
his caduceus he keeps »:.
at a distance the storm
clouds and winds
that could disturb its
idyllic atmosphere.
But just as Venus uses
Zephyrus, the spring
wind, so does Mercury
dispel all the winds
except Zephyrus,
whom he utilizes

to increase the speed

of his wings.
Thus Mercury, the last

figure on the left,

projected in a direction
outside the painting,
in some ways creates
a circular continuity
with the first figure

on the right
f

^1

THE MODEL
FORMERCLiRY
Placed at one time
in the courtyard

of Palazzo Medici,
the bronze David
byDonatello (c. 1430,
Florence, Museo del
Bargello) constitutes
with its pose, beret,
and winged boots
the probable model
for the Mercury shown J*-^
here in detail.
 RAPHAEL THREE
The Three Graces SPREADERS
(1504-05, Chantilly, OF JOY
Musee Conde). A slow and melodious
The harmony rhythm marks
of the dance the dance of the
of Botticelli's Graces, divine
Graces finds creatures covered by
a subtle counterpoint transparent veils,
in the studied symbolizing love that
balance is given, received,
of the rhythms and returned and
of the bodies defining an intimate
and movements relationship between
of Raphael's Graces. Voluptuousness,
With their ochre- represented by the
colored flesh Grace on the left.

they present Chastity, by the one

themselves in the center, and
as solidly constructed Beauty, on the right.
and perfectly balanced The harmonious triad,

in proportion accompanied
and movement, by Mercury, enters
in a geometric into relationship,

structure typical through the figure of

of Renaissance art, Venus, of whose train
which yet manages they are a part, with
to surest the sense the other triad made
of an intertwining up of Zephyrus,
of the three states Chloris, and Flora.
of love: Together they represent
chastity, sensuality, variations in the
and beauty. dialectic of love.

"Ik r
ANALYSIS OF THE WORK: THE DETAILS
THE APPLES

THE HIDDEN OF THE GARDEN

OF THE HESPERIDES
Trees laden

MEANING
with oranges, another
attribute of Venus,
form a natural roof
of vegetation over
the figures' heads.
The fruits recall

the apples of
Allegory of Spring reveals Botticelli's profound intel-
The lectual virtuosity and incessant speculation, which loves
the Hesperides which,
once tasted,
bring love and fertility,
to use the literary game of allegory to free his forms of
and represent a clear
any connection whatever with a definable, recognizable space reference to the coat
of arms of the Medici
and time. The cancellation of depth of space and the multipli-
family which, like
cation of rhythmic cadences, resonating like the words of po- the apples, brings
about prosperity
etry, lead the artist to a dissolution of plastic form and per-
and harmony
spectival space in favor of linearism and two-dimensionality. among men.

• Turning the images into allegory re-

quires a constant recourse to the use of

symbolic codes, both in terms of the ges-

tures and placement of the figures in

space, and to refer to hidden meanings of

some secondary attributes of the ele-

ments represented.
• Thus we find ourselves in the posi-

tion of having to interpret a large number

of symbols whose specific use here could
change or even overturn the literal mean-
ing which emerges on a preliminary ex-

amination of the picture.

• The Garden of the Hesperides, sacred
to Venus, which seems to provide the set-

ting for The Allegory of Spring, changes its

meaning because of the presence of lau-

THE FLOWERY
rel trees, recalling the name of Lorenzo {Laurus=Laur{en1i)us),
MEADOW
who commissioned the painting. Besides, all the members of the The plane on which
the eight characters
Medici family who bore the name Lorenzo used the laurel in stand is a soft carpet

their arms, so by extension it can symbolize the entire family. of flowers and grass,
in which botanists have
In this way, the extraordinarily idyllic relationship between recognized dozens

man and nature seen in the painting could come to symbolize of different species.
Attention to vegetable
an idyll between humanitas and the Medici. forms is typical of

• The elements present, therefore, do not represent them- the naturalism of

the Flemish painters,
selves alone but set up resonances referring to other things. The who were well known
in the Florentine art
jewels worn by the Graces and Venus, like the flowers, establish
world. At right, a detail
a symbolic relationship between the persons and nature and at from the Portinari

Altarpiece (c. 1478,

the same time say that their eyes sparkle like jewels, their lips
Florence, Uffizi) by
have the freshness of roses, their skin is as translucent as pearls. Hugo van der Goes.

10
 BOTTICELLI

MASTER
OF THE TAROT CARDS
Mercury
(c. 1465).
This Mercury,
very well known
in Florentine circles,
is another
of the possible models
2; ' used by Botticelli.

ILCADUCEUS
The symbol of peace
and prosperity
in heraldry,
the caduceus
is made up of a rod
with two snakes
at its top
intertwining
symmetrically.
Attribute of Mercury, as
he is the messenger
of the gods, it is used
by him to keep
storms away, whether
meteorological or
metaphorically referring
to the difficulties

the Medici family might

find along its path.

11

^
 A JEWEL LEONARDO DA VINCI
AMONG THE VEILS Portrait ofGimvra Bend
TTie pendant hanging (c. 1474, Washington,
on Venus's breast National Gallery of Art).
contains the two main In Leonardo's
attributes with which famous painting,
the goddess of love the juniper tree
is usually represented: in the background
the pearls produced suggests
by the oyster shell, and evokes
connecting the goddess the name of the sitter.
with the sea In this same way,
which spawned her, the myrtie woods
and the flame behind Venus
of the fire of love, identifies

captured by the ruby immediately the

set into the pendant. goddess of love
and beauty
through
the presence
of the tree
sacred to her.

INMTATION A PLAY OF GLANCES

AND GREETING The viewer's
According to the code pleasure at seeing
of social behavior this painting is due
of the time, in large part to

the gesture that Venus the unreal atmosphere

makes with her hand of a distant and rarefied
has the value of an world, heightened
invitation and by the undefined
a welcome: a gesture physiognomy
at the same time of the protagonist,
of regal hospitality and who nonetheless seems
of urging the viewer to be looking direcdy
to enter into at the spectator. But it

the kingdom of beauty. is a Sibylline glance,

The aspect of Venus that looks without
emphasized here seeing and seems
is her morally most instead to be absorbed
noble one, in her own melancholy
her sublime humanitas. inner reflections.

12
BOTTICELLI

13
ANALYSIS OF THE WORK: TECHNIQUE

THE LINES
painter has succeeded in imbuing the painting with a sub-
The lime elegance and an extraordinary chromatic quality, us-
ing tempera applied onto a prepared wooden panel. Here
and there touches of an oily substance - revealed by the operation
of restoration and cleaning of the painting in 1983 - infuse brilliance
and transparency to the colors.

• But in Botticelli's works, shapes are not created so much by col-

or as by the movement of the line, which tends to make matter prac-
tically impalpable and to give it the consistency of light. And it is a
very special light, one that renders the figures diaphanous, wraifh-
like, light and floating, their contour lines dissolving into nothingness.
• line also fulfills the function of marking off the measure of time UNES
AND TRANSPARENCES
and thus revealing its rhythm. The entire composition follows a
Above and below are
Agostino di Ducdo's
figures oi An Angel

Holding a Curtain and

The Moon, in the Tempio
Malatestiano in Rimini. r
Both compositions are
marked by a melodious
linearism, which we find

again in the fluid

fiillness of the veils

of the Graces, right

Notice how the
movement is merely
suggested by the floating
of the diaphanous,
transparent veils and
by the synchronized,
rhythmic harmony of
the lines of their bodies.

metrical, rhythmic cadence like that of Politian's "Stanzas," and the

central figure represents the "caesura," the pause which allows one
to take a breath and pulls together the musicality of the verse.

• The succession in the background at irregular intervals of the

tree trunks, now large, now smaller, underlines the melodic cadence
of the whole, which unfolds with great refinement and lightness,

like the music composed to express the sensibility of the time.

• Tliis is the first time in the figurative arts that we see figures de
fined not by a single contour line, but by numerous lines, of which
it is impossible to say exactly which one, more than any of the oth-
ers, suggests the edge of the figure. Even the movement - in the
absence of a backdrop to help develop the action - is created by
the flow of the line. In the group of the Graces, in effect, it is the
floating veils which create the figures' relationship with space
and give the fllusion of movement.

14
15

d
THE GENIUS AND THE ARTIST

UNIVERSAL HARMONY
Botticelli received his artistic training first in a impression on the art of Sandro Botticelli, who be-

goldsmith's workshop and then in the shops of came the figurative spokesman for the Neoplatonic
Filippo Lippi, Andrea Verrocchio, and the theories, being expressed by the most brilliant

brothers Antonio and Piero del Pollaiolo. Select- minds of an era in which philosophy, art, and poetry
ing elements from the figurative language of each converged as never before and never again.
of his teachers, he created his own individual style, • The harmonic balance that fostered the con-

based on the constructive potentialities of line and a struction of this climate came apart, and the
love for refined details. painter's sensitive soul was quick to absorb the pro-

• His cultivated, but at the same time pleasing and re- found spiritual unease that found expression in the

fined language responded to Florentine preachings of the Dominican friar Gerolamo Savonarola. After
THE TRIALS OF MOSES
(1481-82, Rome, Palazzi society's taste, just as the pope appreci- FlUPPINO UPPI the friar's death, Botticelli abandoned
Vaticani, Sistine Chapel).
ated his capacity to translate stories in-
The Crucifixion
all artistic research, while other artists -
The story of Moses is
of St Peter
broken up into episodes, to images, so much so that he commis- (1481-83, Florence, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael -were
represented in the same Church of the Carmine,
sioned him to paint frescoes in the Sis- already active in the city, introducing a
space and separated by Brancacci Chapel).
elements of the tine Chapel. The detail shown here very different kind of taste. Just a short
landscape, following a thought to be a
custom still belonging to
• The refined intellectual atmosphere
is

portrait of Botticelli
time after his death in 1510, Botticelli
the Middle Ages. breathed at the Medici court left a deep painted by his disciple. was already forgotten.

16
 BUST OF LORENZO
THE MAGNIFICENT
(Florence, Uffizi).

ANTONIO AND PIERO

DEL POLLAIOLO
Tobias and the Angel

(c. 1478, Turin,

Galleria Sabauda).
The PoUaiolo brothers'
interest in
the dynamic structure
of the human body
is such that
it is no longer seen
as perfect form,
but as energy.

GIOVANNI
DELLE CORNIOLE
Gerolamo Savonarola
(1498-1516, Florence,
Museo degli Argenti,
engraved cornelian).
The Dominican friar

had a great following

in Florence, where he
preached against
the luxury of the
Medici court and
the corrupt politics of
the papacy and urged
a purification of society.

17
PRODUCTION: EARLY ACTIVITY

THE APPROACH
TO A LINEAR DYNAMISM
artist's earliest work was as a goldsmith, for which
The was he nicknamed "Botticelli," which probably derives
from "battigello" (gold-beater). His older brother Antonio
was already active in the craft.

• But Botticelli very early manifested his desire to enter a real art
workshop, and his father complied with this request by sending
him in 1464 to Prato as an apprentice to Filippo lippi, where he
stayed three years. Here he learned from THE DISCOXTRY
OF THE BODY
the master the rules of perspective and at-
OF HOLOFERNES
tention to detail, clearly derived from Flem- (1472, Florence, Uffizi).

This Bible story was a

ish painting. A series of Madonnas shows favorite subject during
his progressive detachment from lippi and the fifteenth century,
and Botticelli himself
growing autonomy of expression.
took it up again in a

• From 1467 to 1470 the young painter, small panel of 1495.

JUDFTH'S RETURN who lived in Florence on the Via Larga,

TO BETHUU'V
(1470-72, Florence, frequented the workshop of Verrocchio,
Uffizi). This panel where Leonardo da Vinci was also study-
together with
TTie Discovery of the Body
ing. Here he learned, how to render vol-

ofHolofernes forms a ume, how to give figures three-dimen-

diptych. The influence
of Botticelli's teachers
sionality and place them in space. But just
is readily apparent as important was his contact with the Pol-

laiolo brothers, from whom he learned linear dynamism.

• In 1470 he was awarded his first public commission: Fortitude.
Tlie panel is part of a cycle commissioned from Rero del Pollaiolo.
Piero's delay in producing the paintings led to the assignment of

Botticelli to make two of the panels; he actually only painted

one because of Piero's protests. In 1472, by now the head of his

own shop, he enrolled in the Compagnia di San Luca.

18
FORTITUDE The powerfully modeled
(1470, Florence, figure is emphasized
IJffizi). by the red mantle in
Commissioned which she is wrapped
by the judges and shows still

of the Tribunale the strong mark

della Mercanzia, of his master's
this was teachings. Botticelli
intended takes advantage
as part of his experience
of a as a goldsmith in
series of his rendering of the
Virtues gilt, decorations, and
already metals. This is his first
begun the important public
commission which
makes him visible

beyond his immediate

circle of friends.

PIERO
DEL POLLAIOLO
Temperance
(1469, Florence, Uffizi).

The panel was part

of a series of the seven
theological
and cardinal virtues
(Faith, Hope, Charity,
Fortitude, Justice,
Prudence,
and Temperance)
destined to decorate
the hall where the Sei
della Mercanzia met
PRODUCTION: EARLY ACTIVITY

FIUPPO UPPI
The Virgin and Child
(1465, Florence, Uffizi).

Botticelli's first teacher

was a friar

in the convent
of the Carmine.
He established
a relationship
with Lucrezia Buti,
who was the mother of
his son Filippino lippi;
Filippino would later

become Botticelli's
most important pupil.
Botticelli learned from
lippi the tender
portrayal of affection
which we find in all

his early devotional

pictures.

THE VIRGIN
AND CHILD
WITH TWO ANGELS
(1469, Naples, Museo
di Capodimonte).
The affectionate
tenderness of Lippi's
Madonnas is united
here with a study of
volume which derives
from Botticelli's

apprenticeship in
Verrocchio's workshop.

20
 ^.rf^^fea^
THE VIRGIN
AND CHILD
SURROUNDED
BY ANGELS
(c. 1470,
Florence, Uffizi).
This representation
reproposes the archaic
motif of the Virgin
enthroned, reworked
through a careful
graduation of the
volumes. Golden rays
frame the figure;
superimposed on them
is a frieze of cherubs'
heads. The virgin
ANDREA is seated frontally,
DELVERROCCHIO with a slight turn
The Virgin of the Rose-bush of her head slightly

(c. 1470, Florence, to the right which lends

Uffizi). Verrocchio a strong plastic quality
taught Botticelli how to the figure.
to create the spatial

relationship between
figures using modeling
and light.

His workshop was

full of students
and guaranteed a well-
rounded preparation
in the fields of

sculpture, painting,
and goldsmith work.

21
PRODUCTION: IN THE FIORENCE Of THE MEPICI

SUBLIME BEAUTY
Expression of an urban elite, Re-

naissance culture is the patrimony

of small circles; it replaced the old

hierarchy, founded on the values of reli-

gion and the nobility, with a new one
based on the values of the art of gov-
ernment, of knowledge, of taste.
• This aristocratic character helps ex-
plain the rapid spread of Renaissance

culture not only in the sphere of the up-

per middle class, but also in the prince-

ly courts and the highest levels of the

clergy. And it helps to understand the

explosion of patronage, which lies at the

base of almost all the great enterprises of

the Renaissance.

• Botticelli, through the mediation of the Vespucci family for Botticelli the antique represents an aesthetic ideal, the
who helped him from the beginning, also entered the Medici ideal of the beautiful which is eternal, outside of history and
circle - immortalizing it in the retinue accompanying the Ma- time, the beauty of the intellectual light which is supreme
gi in The Adoration of the Magi now in the Uffizi - and was able knowledge itself, not a means for reaching it.

to participate in the Hellenistic current which arose in Flo- • In his representation of figures, "love of the pure lyricism of
rentine humanist culture. the line" goes so far as to make him sacrifice three-dimen-

• His contemporaries saw in him the new Apelles - the myth- sionality in favor of an immaterial image lifted out of real
ical classical Greek painter whose works are unknown - but space and historical time.

• Since at this point line no longer has

the task of framing and explaining real-
THE PAZZI CONSPIRACY
ity, perspective, understood as the way
A
led
dramatic event took place
when a group of Florentines,
by the Pazzi family with the support
in 1 478
space is structured, no longer has a rea-
son to exist. Botticelli's painting is thus
of Pope Sixtus IV, plotted to overthrow
the Medici power The sacrilegious deliberately anti-perspective, not in the
nature of the conspiracy reached
its height during celebration of Mass sense that the artist does not know or
in the cathedral. Giuliano de' Medici
breaks the rules of perspective, but in
was mortally wounded, while Lorenzo,
although struck, managed to escape. the sense that he does not consider them
The enraged crowd chased
the fundamental principle for the con-
the conspirators, who were arrested
and put to justice. The Signoria struction of vision. In his last years the
of Florence engaged Botticelli to fresco
the scene of the hanging on the walls artist took this attitude to extremes, pro-
of Palazzo Vecchio, but unfortunately
ducing panels that increasingly utilized
the work has since been lost.

archaic and "primitive" solutions.

22
 BOTTICELLI
THE ADORATION PORTRVrr OF A M\N
OF THE \UGI HOLDING THE MED.U
(1481-82, Washington, OF COSLMO THE ELDER
National Gallery of Art). (1474, Florence,
Uffizi).
The subject, a favorite

of the artist, was The presence of this

portrait in one of the
painted by him
Medici houses led
a number of times over
for a long time
the course of his life.
to the supposition
This version recalls,
that the sitter was
in its architectural
backdrop,
a member of the family.
But closer examination
the analogous tondo
shows that the facial
in the National Gallery
features resemble
in London.
those of Botticelli as
.s»r he is portrayed in
The Adoration of
:S.
the Magi, and
thus it is

probable that
:^r
the model is

Antonio,
Sandro's
brother, who
resembled
BERTOLDO
him. Antonio
DI GIOVANNI
was a
Commemorative medal i

goldsmith
of the Pazzi conspiracy
and the
(1478, Florence,
author of the
Museo Nazionale
medal he holds
del Bargello).
for the viewer to
The medal, shown in
observe.
the box on the facing
page, represents
the head of Giuliano
de' Medici with
the inscription
"Luctus Publicus."
 THE .WOMTION
OF THE MAGI
(1475, Rorence, Uffizi).

The painting,
destined for the altar
of the funerary chapel
of Giovanni Zanobi del
Lama, in Santa Maria
Novella, has been
the object of particular
attention on the part
of scholars and art Bl jJl.^* ? I'J

historians, who have the

tried to assign a name Magiil{t<
to the figures

of the Medici court

shown here.
The identification
proposed at right
i r
is the most accepted,
but certainly does not
claim to be definitive.
The painter's maturity
of style is evident
in the skill with which
he arranges the figures,
the harmony
of the colors,
and the preciousness
of the golden
PORTR.AIT OF PORTRW OF embroidery.
SMER\U)A BR.ANDINI GllLUNO I)E' MEDICI
(1470-71, London, (1478, Washington,
Victoria and Albert National Gallery of Art).
Museum). This is the most
Formal research interesting version
and realistic analysis of the various portraits
are admirably united of Giuliano painted
in this portrait by Botticelli.

K^
W'i.

^^l: UK .,
di f i fm
1^' M
ig Hl^\^^^ ,

r
^..>'

i
>
1^
1 tl ! M
'^
"
I Angelo
l\ Politian

!
? ^^^J^^^i^JJM
t*ico della
Mirandola

24
 ^^M^

•i<^
-- 4--- ^i
-""roam

J,

Giovanni
Argiropulo

Giovanni
de* Medici

Piero
de' Medici Bottice

ii;^

W
 DOMENICO
GHIRLANDAIO
St Jerome

(1480, Florence,
Church of Ognissanti).
BotticelU and
Ghirlandaio painted
at the same time
in the church
of Ognissanti the
frescoes of the two
saints, who were
greatiy venerated
in the fifteenth century,

The saint

is represented as
a philologist among
the tools of his trade.

ST AUGUSTINE IN
HIS STIDY
(1480, Florence,
Church of Ognissanti).
The saint is seen
by Botticelli as
the precursor of those
who held that
the Scriptures should
be interpreted
not literally but
according to
their spirit, and thus
he places within reach
an astrolabe, a book
of Pythagorean
theorems, and other
symbols of a humanist
culture profoundly
bound to the spirit

of Christianity.

26
 THE VIRGIN
OF THE BOOK
(1480-83, Milan,
Museo Poldi Pezzoli).
The painting is

of very high quality

and reveals the
meticulous care
Botticelli took to define
the image in its linear
rhythms and the still

lifes of books lined up

on the shelf, the box,

the basket of fruit.

Mother and son show
an intense and
affectionate mutual
communication,
veiled by the presence
in the Child's hand
of the symbols of his
Passion. According
to some scholars,
the date of the picture
should be moved
to 1485.

27
PRODUCTION; BETWEEN ROME AND FLORENCE

MYTH AND ALLEGORY

was
Toward the end of 1481 Botticelli pecially his tondos with images of the Virgin
called to Rome to participate with were in great demand, the artist devoted
Cosimo Rosselli, Piero di Cosimo, himself in this decade to works with a
Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Perugino in mythological content, reinterpreted in

the rich and complex program estab- the light of Neoplatonic philosophy.

lished by the humanist intellectuals at the • Botticelli transferred to the world of

papal court for the decoration of the Sis- myth an intense spirituality, manifested in

tine Chapel; he was assigned to paint a series of images imbued with a moral
mainly historical themes. The artist, some- content corresponding to his patron's ideals.

what impatient of the limits imposed by the The fresco cycle for Villa Lemmi, of which
rules of traditional perspective construction, some traces remain, and that for the villa at Spedalet-
seems to revive in these frescoes the archaic composi- to (of which nothing survives) are, together with The Al-
tional language characteristic of medieval painting. legory of Spring, The Birth of Venus, and Pallas and the Centaur
• In a large number of devotional panels, Botticelli is able to the highest expression of the urgency of the ethical message.

express his style fully in a delicate graphic line and a highly re- • The serene tone of these works at times yields to melancholy
fined palette, while the taste of the times emerges in a certain and immerses the figures, detached from the action, in a con-

secular tone in the sacred composition. But besides this activity, templative mood. Action is transferred from the exterior to the

which nonetheless occupied a large part of his time, since es- interior and becomes a process of inner sifting and refinement.

28
 BOTTICELLI
THE MADONNA
OF THE MAGNIFICAT
(1482-83,
Florence, Uffizi).
In the tondo
on the facing page,
the aristocratically
beautijful figures

manifest an intense
spirituality.

PALLAS
AND THE CENTAL'S
(1482-83,
Florence, Uffizi).
The symboUc meaning
of the picture has
evoked political

interpretations and
philosophical readings
explaining the dual
nature of the centaur.
The goddess of Reason
dominates the beast,
i.e., the human instinct

resident in the lower

parts of the body,
by grabbing the centaur
by the hair, appealing

to his rational side,

which corresponds
to the upper half.

The goddess wears

a dress decorated with
Medici emblems and
is wrapped in myrtie

branches.

THE STORY
OF NASTAGIO
DEGLl ONESTI
(1483, Madrid, Prado,
second panel).
BotticeUi's narrative

vein finds expression

in a series of four
panels narrating
the story told
by Boccaccio in his

Decameron (V, 8).

The panel shown here

presents the dramatic
moment when Nastagio
in horror sees
the knight taking
the fallen girl's heart
and giving it

to the dogs to eat.

The panels were

commissioned for
the wedding
of Giannozzo Pucci
and Lucrezia Bini.

29

mm
 THEMRGINOFTHE VENUS AND MARS
POMEGRANATE (1483, London,
(1487, National Gallery).
Florence, Uffizi). Many literary sources
The tondo was painted relate the love story
for die Audience of Mars and Venus
Chamber of die and could have served
Magistrati di Camera as inspiration for this
in Palazzo Vecchio. painting: from Marsilio
The Virgin's face, Ficino to Politian,
very similar to that of from Lucretius
Venus, has a detached, to Lucian, from Luigi
spiritual expression, Pulci to Lorenzo
accentuated by the the Magnificent.
presence in the Child's A Roman sarcophagus
hand of a pomegranate, representing Bacchus
symbol of his future and Ariadne presents
Passion. The six angels the same scheme
arranged around of the two bodies,
the Virgin in receding one nude, the other
planes are surmounted dressed, lying facing
by a golden oval that each other.
alludes to divine light. The presence of the
wasps (vespe in Italian)
on the tree trunk
suggests a reference
to the Vespucci family,
who probably
commissioned
the picture.
 THE PUNISHMENT
OF THE REBELS
(1481-82, Rome,
Palazzi Vaticani, Sistine
Chapel). Three pieces
of architecture
(a Renaissance palace
on the left, the Arch
of Constantine
in the center, and
the Septizodium on
the right) provide
the backdrops for the
three separate
episodes: Joshua keeps
the Jews from stoning
Moses and Aaron,
the rebellion against
Aaron's authority,
the punishment
of the Levites.
PRODUCTION: BETWEEN ROME AND FLORENCE
THE FARNESE CUP
(2"'' century B.C.,
Naples, Museo
Archeologico Nazionale).
The winged genii on this

ancient sardonyx cameo,

once the property of
Lorenzo the Magnificent,
inspired the figures
of Zephyrus and Aura.

THE BIRTH OF VE>fUS

(1482-83,
Florence, Uffizi).
The painting, along
with The Allegory of
Spring, hung in the
Medici villa at Castello.

Once again Le Stanze

(I,41-64)byAngelo
Politian are the literary
source that inspired
the painter.
The episode is the one
in which Venus,
who has just been born
of the foam of the wave,
is transported to the
island of Cythera
"on a shell,"

propelled by the winds

Zephyrus and Aura.
Welcoming her is one
of the Spring Hours,
in a white dress
scattered with daisies,
who holds out a cloak
to cover her nudity,
which she modestly
tries to hide
with her hands.
The nude Venus has
its iconographical
source in an ancient
sculpture of the type
called the Venus pudica,
or "modest Venus,"
known from numerous
originals and copies.

32
BOniCELU

33
PRODUCTION: BETWEEN ROME AND FLORENCE

.
M'-^
\\
jr
/^^BBMifllflbElll''^'

urn
>J. '^^
am
# y /—
i«k
h IP^ ^M
^%^^ti
«.'><< v,-/ .-m^ •--.,. :,)T3P

^:

m
^•*

'4

^
\
If'^ i\

'm
ff-

}>.
>.*.'-
i

34
 BOTTICELLI

THE VIRGIN AND LAMENTATION have just suffered. to giving the

CHILD WTTH SAINTS OVER THE DEAD CHRIST The sense of composition an openly
CATHERLNE (1489-92, Munich, oppression is dramatic tone which
OFAI^XANDRIA, Alte Pinakothek). heightened by the rock prefigures Botticelli's
AUGUSTINE, BARNABAS, The dramatic power wall overhanging more openly
JOHN THE BAPTIST, of the composition the scene and "Savonarolian" phase.
IGNATIUS, is obtained through containing the The search for
AND MICHAEL a series of closed sarcophagus a disembodied "beauty"
THE ARCE'VNGEL triangles within which in which Christ will be is still present
(c. 1489, the figures are inserted entombed. TTie strong in the figure of Christ,

Florence, Uffizi). by force, making them contrast between while the face of
Known as the seem oppressed the colors and St John, next to
St Barnabas Altarpiece, and dominated by their the leaden tones the Virgin, is strongly
was
the panel grief at the loss they of the flesh contributes expressive.
commissioned
by the Guild of Doctors
and Phcirmacists LAMENTATION
for the church 0\1R THE DEAD CHRIST
of San Barnaba. (1495, Milan,
An elaborate canopy Museo Poldi Pezzoli).
falls around The panel repeats
the classicizing marble the theme of the

throne of the Virgin. picture in Munich

The composition painted a few years
reveals in part earlier.

the artisf s new Here the figures

direction of research, constitute

no longer seeking one compact block,

"ideal beauty," weighty with drama.
but now focusing The strongly
on the suffering, expressive faces
intense expression and bodies
of the drama. are twisted in pain.
The Virgin, St Michael, Notice in particular
the angels, and the figure
St Catherine still of Mary Magdalene
belong to his preceding at lower left

stylistic phase, while tenderly embracing

the other saints reflect Christ's feet,

the search for a new crouching

Icmguage that has not in a stylized

yet been fully defined. and unnatural curve.

35
l>RODUCTION: THE LAST WORKS
THE CRISIS YEARS
mythical Golden Age, greeted with great enthusiasm THE MYsnc
The in Florence by men of culture, was already on the wane.
CRUCIFIXION
(1500-05, Cambridge,
Lx)renzo the Magnificent's policy of equilibrium was Massachusetts,
Fogg Art Museum).
showing signs of cracking, and the economic and political sit-
Botticelli here eschews

uation in the last decade of the century was increasingly un- perspective,
proportions,
stable. The contradictions evident in the city were denounced and drawing,
by the Dominican friar Gerolamo Savonarola. His sermons succeeding in reaching
great heights in the
spared neither politics nor culture; they stirred up his follow- figure of Mary
Magdalene, wrapped in
ers (called i Piagnoni, or the "weepers") against the humanists
her cloak and prostrate
and philosophers accused of paganism, against the artists at the foot of the Cross.

who created indecorous images, against

'
'>:«Fy«'^«-m\t'v

the victors of a tyrannical form of politics.

The "bonfires of the vanities" organized

between 1497 and 1498 indicate how lit-

tle was left by that time of the Florentine

cultural supremacy of which all had been

so proud.

• Everyone was invited to repent and to

convert radically. The most restless, but darker, more leaden tones in his sacred
also the most sincere, spirits were pro- works. Calumny is the last mythological
foundly disturbed and pulled in by the fri- subject he painted, perhaps in response

ar's apocalyptic visions; among these to the atmosphere of general suspicion

was Sandro Botticelli, who now proposed generated by the conflicts between the
factions.

• In his fury of renewal, the friar also at-

tacked the pope, Alexander VI, and the

Curia. The Florentine government in
May 1498 took advantage of the pope's

CHRIST PRAYING LN withdrawal of support to accuse Savonarola of immorality and

THE GARDEN OF
to have him arrested and sentenced to death (May 23, 1498).
GETHSEMANE
(c. 1500-04, Granada, • Botticelli paid no heed to the accusations leveled at the friar
Capilla de los Reyes).
and took refuge in his work with renewed zeal. The sacred
The small panel was
painted for Isabella panels present subjects which are given symbolical interpreta-
the Catholic, Queen
tions, while the fever of his mysticism grew hotter and hotter,
of Castille.
Stylistically it belongs leading him to seek a more archaic and expressive language.
to the same period
as the other
• In a changed climate under the leadership of the Gon-
two panels, faloniere della Repubblica Pier Soderini, in his last years Bot-
whose narrative
simplicity and
ticelli was once again an inexhaustible narrator of stories:
deliberately archaic those of Virginia, of Lucretia, and of St Zenobius, his last
composition it shares.
known work.

36
 THE MYSTIC NAUVm' CALUMNY
(1501, London, (c. 1495, Florence,
National Gallery). Uffizi). The subject of
On the &cing page, the peiinting by
in the center, is the most the Greek artist Apelles
significant work of the was known to Botticelli

phase of his Savonarolian from the descriptions of

mysticism. Archaic in it made by Lucian and
structure, the panel Alberti. The scene is set

evokes passages fi-om in a rich hall decorated

the Bible's Book of with reliefs and statues.

Revelations and is On the right King
deliberately cryptic, as is Midas, depicted with
indicated by the Greek ass's ears, listens

words across the top. to the murmurings

of Suspicion and
THE \aRGIN Ignorance, while in front
OF THE PAVIUON of him. Hatred leads

(c. 1493, in Calumny, followed by

Milan, Pinacoteca Envy and Fraud,
Ambrosiana). who braid her hair with
The tondo is of very flowers and ribbons.
high quality and The victim of slander
is probably the one is dragged in nude by
Vasari saw [
the hair, begging with

in the convent of clasped hands for

Santa Maria degli mercy. At a short
Angeli, which distance a withered
no longer exists. It is and bony old woman,
not clear how it came dressed in black
to Milan, but it could and white. Repentance,
have been a gift of turns toward Truth,
Charles VIII of France a nude woman pointing

to the Duke of Milan. towards heaven.

37
PRODUCTION: THE LAST WORKS
ST AUGUSTINE
IN HIS STUDY
(c. 1495,
Florence, Uffizi).
This small panel,
according to some,
was executed for two
followers of Savonarola,
Giacomo and Giovanni
di Bernardo.
Others, instead,
maintain that it was
made for the prior
of the Augustinian
convent of Santo
Spirito. The saint
is shown writing;
the pieces of torn
paper and used quills
on the floor suggest his

great concentration
and his detachment
from lowly daily cares.
His cell is a small
barrel-vaulted
structure, closed off
by a curtain.
Behind the saint
can be gUmpsed
a monochrome tondo
of the Virgin and Child.

THE CORONATION
OF THE VIRGIN
(1493-95,
Florence, Uffizi).
St Augustine, the
second from the left,

appears often in
Botticelli's paintings.

We have already seen

him in the St Barnabas

Altarpiece and the fresco

-^fwirffavrimiirart in Ognissanti.

38
 BOniCELLI

STORIES FROM THE the left; the episodes of being dishonored EPISODES FROM THE freeing two youths offered by Leonardo.
UFE OF LUCRETLA Marcus Curtius and by Sextus; in the center, LIFEOF ST ZENOBIliS: possessed by demons Botticelli's architecture

(c. 1500, Boston, Mucio Scaevola in the the culmination of THE THREE MIRACLES on the left, raising and his narrative candor
Isabella Stewart Gardner friezes on the triumphal the drama with Brutus (c. 1505, London, the son of a recall, on the contrary,
Museum). arch; the feats of showing her body to the National Gallery). noblewoman in the the perspective solutions
The literary sources Horatius Codes in the Roman soldiers, inciting TTie story of center, and restoring of Fra' Angelico or,
inspiring diis painting frieze over the arch on them to revolt The St Zenobius, sight to a blind man on even farther back
are livy and Valerius the right The main story architectural backdrops bishop of Florence, the right The simplicity in time, of Giotto, with

Maximus. The narrative unfolds in three different recall in some ways the who lived between of the architectural the perspective planes
force is manifested not moments. On the left, perspective of Piero della the fourth and fifth forms in the understood as pure
only in the main story, Lucretia tries to repel the Francesca and reiterate centuries, unfolds background underlines fields of color,

but also in the episodes advances of Sextus, the the concept that high along four panels. Botticelli's polemical in front of which
described in the friezes son of Tarquin the drama is developed only The one shown below response to the the composition
on the architecture: Proud; on the right, against the background is the second, and formulations of aerial is arranged
the story of Judith on Lucretia's suicide after of great ideas. presents the bishop perspective being by groups.

39
THE MAN AND HIS TIMES

THE GLORY OF 2V.

THE RENAISSANCE TX
dignity of man a central theme of the Renais-
The sance, and it is
is

celebrated through the value attrib-

uted to the arts, techniques, and doctrines which man

uses to conquer nature, impart an order to society, increase his
knowledge of the world, and appreciate life's beauties, as Pi-

co della Mirandola does in the Oratio de hominis dignitate or

Leon Battista Alberti in his Libri della famigUa.

• The concentration of genius in Flo-

ANTONIO
rence during this period is truly im-
DELPOIMIOLO
pressive in every field: Raphael, Hercules and Antaeus iL
(c. 1475, Florence,
Michelangelo, Masaccio, Leonardo, Bot- Museo del Bargello).

ticelli, Donatello, Brunei

leschi, Pietro Aretino,

Politian, Alberti,
Machiavelli, Guiccia-
X ^
rdini, Marsilio Ficino, and Pico della Mi

H
u
V.
4
•1#3^
tfWL U l i !

•«ui;

t 'Trrrr*»gR~3r:E5 cassaajin IliW

1
\
I
randola are just some of the personalities who emerged from
vH
this culture.

• Their talents served not only to create masterpieces, but of- \

'

ten revolutionized their disciplines at the foundation. This was

the epoch in which, in painting, perspective, portraiture, land-

\ ^
scape, and still life were reborn; in sculpture, the portrait bust
and equestrian statue; in music, the madrigal. The first secular
',.
»
dramas in Italian were performed, and tragedy, comedy, and
pastoral all found new life. The first modern theories of art, lit-

erature, poetry, philology, and politics were developed.

40

iMttMM
 BOTTICELLI

BARTOLOMEO PIERO literal deciphering.

VENETO DELIA FRANCESCA This is the case
Woman Playing the Lute TJie Flagellation of Christ of the Flagellation,
(15* centairy, (after 1459, Urbino, in which the apparent
Florence, Uffizi). Galleria Nazionale subject conceals
Music plays an delle Marche). the profound meaning
important role in the The use of allegory of the picture,
Renaissance and is in Renaissance works over which critics
closely connected with is very frequent and historians have
the written text In the and often so difficult labored for years
vocal composition of the to interpret to formulate

madrigal, every element as to render almost the most suggestive

of sound is placed at the impossible a reading hypotheses
service of the word. that goes beyond close to explain it

GIULIANO PIETRO PERUGINO GIOVANNI PICO

DA SANGALLO Oim/ 6V'w>5f t/ie Keys DELLA MIRANDOLA
77;? Villa at Poggio to St Peter (15* century,
a Caiano (1481-82, Rome, Florence, Uffizi).
(1480-85). Palazd Vaticani, The Italian intellectual,
On the facing page Sistine Chapel). here in an anonymous
isone of the most This fi-esco faces (he one portrait, had as his
successful examples by Botticelli on the guiding idea the pax
of architecture Sistine Chapel walls, philosophica capable of
in symbiosis and it may have been bringing together the
with the surrounding just this empirical space proponents of all the
landscape. so precisely defined doctrines of thought in
The loggia, terraces, that irritated Botticelli the name of the dignity
and large windows and pushed him of man, understood as
enter into toward an idealistic, the supreme
a direct dialogue absolute, embodiment of the
with nature. and difficult art spiritual world.

41
THE LEGACY OF BOTTICELLI

A COMPLEX LESSON
particularly interesting artistic personalities emerged
No from Botticelli's workshop, with the exception of Filip-
pino Lippi, the son of the Filippo Lippi from whom Bot-
ticelli had learned the first elements of painting. In the be-
ginning the student followed the master's style so closely that
Filippino's earliest paintings are mistaken for Botticelli's. On-
ly later did Lippi distinguish himself from his teacher by a cer-
tain exasperation of linearism.

• The master's fame was great, as witnessed by the fact that in

1504 he was named to the committee assembled to decide where
Michelangelo's David was to be placed. He suggested putting the
statue on the cathedral steps, but his opinion was not supported.
His appointment was an act of homage to his art, but he was al-

ready considered to have been left behind by the new taste which
preferred the emerging talents of Michelangelo and Raphael.

• Critical appreciation of Botticelli was quite modest until

the late eighteenth century, and he was recognized only as the

painter of the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. It would be the
nineteenth century before the myth of the artist would be
born, and this was mainly the claim of the Romantics and
Decadents. Above all, it was English culture and taste which
paid him the attention he was due.
• TTie ecstatic, dreamy female faces painted by Botticelli appealed
greatly to the English Pre-Raphaelite school, in particular to Edward
Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Holman Hunt.
Tliey without doubt had the opportunity in England to study Bot-

ticelli's images, even in simple reproductions, and to take from them

the rhythmic play of line aimed at creating an aesthetic ideal of per-

fection. The faces he painted represented a model of reference even

if thefr femininity is reinterpreted in a dark and passionate or
enigmatic key, prefiguring the myth of the androgynous figure.

42
 EDWARD PORTRAIT
BURNEJONES OF A YOLTH
The Story of Pygmalion: (1483-84, London,
the Goddess Gives Life National Gallery).
(1869-79, The critic Home
Birmingham considers the sitter

City Museum to be one of the young

and Art Gallery). boys in Botticelli's

The sense of the end workshop.

and above all the ideal The portrait, long

of beauty create thought to be the work

a relationship between of Filippino lippi,
two artists distant belongs to the phase
in time Uke Botticelli in which it is easy
and Burne-Jones. to confuse the student's
hand and the master's.

DANTE
GABRIEL
ROSSETO
The Blessed
Damosel
(1875-78,
Cambridge,
Massachusetts,
Fo^ Art Museimi).
Through Botticelli

the painter goes back

in time all the way
to the taste of the

Dolce stil novo.

 THE ARTISTIC JOURNEY
mm For an overall vision of Botticelli's production,
wenave compiled a chronological summary of his principal works

FORTITUDE (1470) ST AUGUSTINE IN HIS STUDY (1480)

Q)mmissioned by the m^istrates of the Tribunale del- Botticelli sees the saint as the first representative
la Mercanzia, was painted as part of a series of
it of the current of exegetes who maintained that the
Virtues, already begun by the master, Piero del Pol- Scriptures should be interpreted by their spirit
laiolo in 1469. This was Botticelli's first public com- rather than literally. For he places
this reason,
mission, which brou^t him to the attention of others book of
within the scholar's reach an astrolabe, a
beyond his small circle of friends. The great plastic Pythagorean theorems, and other symbols of hu-
force of the figure is emphasized by her red cloak, a manistic culture which were profoundty linked to
quality that reveals Pollaiolo's stiU stroi^ influence. the spirit of Christianity.

THE VIRGIN AND CHILD SURROUNDED THE VIRGIN OF THE BOOK (1480-83)
BY ANGELS (1470) This painting, of very high quality, reveals the
This image reproposes the classical motif of the care BotticeUi took to define the image in its lin-
Virgin enthroned, but reworked in a careful grad- ear rhythms and the still lifes of the books

uation of the volumes. Golden rays surround lined up on the shelf, the box, and the basket of
the figure, overlaid with a frieze of cherubs' fruit. The mother and son show an intense, af-
heads. The Virgin, seated frontally on her throne fectionate mutual communication which is veiled

with her head turned slightly to the right, is by the presence in the Child's hand of the sym-
powerfully modeled. bols of his Passion.

THE DISCOVERY OF THE BODY OF HOLOFERNES THE TRIAI>S OF MOSES (1481-82)

(1472) The story cfMoses is divided into epsodes rqjresented
This Biblical subject appears often in fifteenth cen- in the same space, separated by elements of the land-
tury painting, and Botticelli himself repeatedit in a scape, according to medieval custom. Moses kills the
formed a diptych v/iih Ju-
later version. It originally E^ptian and esc^ies onto die mountain; he drives aw^
dith's Return to Bethulia. The scene is set inside the Midianite shepherds so that the herds of the
Holofemes's tent, with his body in the for^oimd. dau^ters of Jediro can drink; he is shown barefoot on
The court dignitaries shown in the act of discover- Mount Sinai as he is revealed the sign of God in the
ing it are dressed in elaborate Oriental costumes. burning bush, and he departs for the Promised Land.

JUDITH'S RETURN TO BETHULIA (1470-72) THE PUNISHMENT OF THE REBELS (1481-82)

The scene captures the triumphal moment of Three pieces of architecture (a Renaissance
Judith's return to her city, accompanied by her palace on the left, the Arch of Constantine in the
handmaid bearing the severed head of center, and the Septizodium on the right) provide
Holofernes. Judith carries in one hand the sword the backdrops for three different episodes: Joshua
used to Idll the Assyrian general, in the other an preventing the Jews from stoning Moses and
oUve branch, the symbol of peace. The episode Aaron, the contestii^ of Aaron's authority and the
takes place contemporaneously with The Discovery incense rising to heaven, and the punishment of
of the Body of Holofernes. the rebel Levites.

PORTRAIT OF A MAN HOLDING THE MEDAL THE ALLEGORY OF SPRING (c. 1482)
OF COSIMO THE ELDER (1474) Zephyrus captures the nymph Chloris and im-
The facial features of the model here recall pregnates her; flowers emerge fi^om her mouth, and
the portrait of Botticelli in The Adoration of the she is transformed into the goddess Flora. Dom-
Magi, and it is thus probable that he is Antonio, inating the center is the standing figure of Venus,
Sandro's brother, who resembled him. Antonio while above her head a flying Cupid is about to
was a goldsmith, who made the medal which he shoot a flaming arrow toward one of the Graces.
offers so prominently for the viewer's obser- On the far left Mercury lifts his caduceus toward
vation. die top of the trees to keep away the clouds.

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI (1475) PALLAS AND THE CENTAUR (1482-83)
The painting, destined to the chapel of Giovanni The painting has a strong symbolic charge and
Zanobi del Lama in Santa Maria Novella, was the has been interpreted both in a political key (as an
object of particular attention on the part of schol- allegory of the diplomatic successes of Lorenzo
ars, who attempted to identify in it the mem- the Magnificent) and in connection with the pre-
bers of the Medici court The painter arranges the which explains the dual
vailing Platonic climate,
figures, dressed in garments richly embroidered nature of the centaur. The goddess of Reason
with gold thread, with great stylistic maturity in dominates the beast, or instinct, grasping the
a harmonious range of colors. centaur by the hair.

44
 THE MADONNA OF THE MAGNIFICAT (1482-83) THE VIRGIN OF THE PAVIUON (c. 1493)
The Virgin on writing a canticle in a small
is intent This fine tondo can probably be identified as the
Prayerbook, while an angel, in an exquisite in- one Vasari saw in the now suppressed convent of
tertwining of hands, holds an inkwell for her to Santa Maria degli Angeli. Especially beautiful in
dip her pen. All the figures have an aristocratic the arrangement of the figures, its style belongs
beauty and betray no feeling except an intense to the artisfs most mature phase. It is not yet
spirituality. The contour lines define almost flat clear how it came to Milan, but it could have been
forms, which are made even lovelier by lac- a gift fi-om Charles VIII of France to the Duke of
quered surfaces and gilding. Milan.

THE BIRTH OF VENUS (1482-83) lAMENTATION OVER THE DEAD CHRIST (c. 1495)
This painting hung with The Allegory of Spring in the The panel repeats the theme already treated a few
Medici Once again, Politian's Le
villa at Castello. years earlier. This time the figures are united in-
Stanze 41-64) provide the direct literary
(I, to one compact block weighty with drama. The
source. The moment shown is that in which strongly expressive faces and bodies are twisted
Venus, just born from the seafoam, is trans- in grief. Particularly noteworthy is the figure of
ported to the island of Cythera "on a shell," pro- Mary Magdalene, at lower left, lovingly holding
pelled by the winds Zephyrus and Aura. Waiting Christ's feet and crouching in a completely un-
to greet her is an Hour of Spring. natural position.

VENUS AND MARS (1483) CALUMNY (c. 1495)

Texts by Marsilio Ficino, Politian, Lucretius, Lucian, The subject of the painting by the Greek artist Apelles
Luigi Pulci, and Lorenzo the Munificent m^ have in- was known to Botticelli from the descriptions given by
spired the painting. A Roman sarcophagus, repre- Lucian and by Alberti. The scene is set in a munifi-
senting Bacchus and Ariadne, presents the same cent haD decorated whh reliefe and statues. On the r^t
scheme of the two bodies, one nude and the otiier Kng Midas is listening to Suspicion and Ignorance. In
dressed, feeing each other. The motif of the wasps on front of him are Hatred, Calumny, Envy, and Fraud.
the tree trunk suggests that the Vespucci femily could The victim of slander is being draped in by his hair.
have commissioned the worii (wasp in

THE STORY OF NASTAGIO DEGU ONESTl

ltatian=vespe)

(1483)
At a sli^t distance, Repentance turns toward Truth.

ST AUGUSTINE IN HIS STUDY (c. 1495)

1
Botticelli's narrative vein finds expression in The saint is shown intent at his writing. On the
a series of four panels telling a story from floor, torn-up pieces of paper and used quills
Boccaccio's Decameron (V, 8). The first, second, suggest his great concentration and his de-
and third panels are in the Prado, the fourth tachment from mundane cares. The cell is pre-
The panels were com-
in a private collection. sented as a small barrel-vaulted structure closed
missioned for the wedding of Giannozzo Puc- offby a curtain. Behind St. Augustine can be
ci and Lucrezia Bini. glimpsed a marble tondo.

THE VIRGIN OF THE POMEGRANATE (1487) STORIES OF LUCRETIA (c. 1500)

The tondo was painted for the Audience Cham- The story takes place in three times. On the left, Lu-
ber of the Magistrati di Camera in Florence's cretia tries to pull aw^ fi-om Sextus, the son of Tar-
Palazzo Vecchio. The face of the Virgin has a de- quin the Proud; on the ri^t is Lucretia's suicide af-

tached, spiritual expression, heightened by the ter having been dishonored by Sextus; in the center,

presence of a pomegranate, symbol of the Passion the culmination of the drama with Brutus showing
to come. The six angels arranged around the Lucretia's body to the he incites them to
soldiers as
Virgin recede into depth, while above them hov- revolt The architectural backdrops in some wm« re-
ers a golden oval, alluding to divine fight. call perspectives painted by Piero della Francesca.

THE ST. BARNABAS ALTARPIECE (ca. 1489) THE MYSTIC NATIVITY (1501)
The panel was commissioned by the Guild of This is the most significant work of Botticelli's phase
Doctors and Pharmacists for the church of San of "Piagnone" mysticism. Archaic in structure, the
Barnaba. An elaborate canopy falls around the panel is connected with some passages from the Book
marble, classicizing throne of the Virgin. The ofRevelations and is deliberately cryptic, as indicated by
composition shows in part the new tendency of the Greek words across the top. On high is a circle of
the artist, no longer devoted to the search for "ide- dancing angels, with Grace, Truth, and Justice on
al beauty," but the deeply felt, intense expression the nxrfrfthe hut and betow, flie reconciliation betweoi
of drama. angels and contemporary man throu^ an embrace.

LAMENTATION OVER THE DEAD CHRIST 1489-92) ( EPISODES FROM THE UFE OF ST ZENOBIUS
The dramatic nature of this composition is (c.1505)
achieved through a series of closed triangles in- This tide refers to four panels with stories from
to which the figures are forced, giving them the .
..: ll the life of the bishop of Florence who lived be-

sense of being oppressed and dominated by their tween the fourth and fifth centuries. The first two
grief at the loss they have just suffered. This op- panels are in the National Gallery in London, the
pressive pain is accentuated by the rock wall third in the Metropolitan Museum of New York,
looming over the scene, holding the sarcophagus and the fourth in the Gemaldegalerie in Dresden.
in which Jesus will be laid. They are Botticelli's last known work.

45

mm
 The following pages
TO
contain: some documents
KNOW MORE useful for understanding different aspects of Botticelli's life and work;
the fundamental stages in the life of the artist; technical data and the location
of the principal works found in this volume; an essential bibliography

wiiii^

ness, shows very clearly that he has achieved the

DOCUMENTS end of his long journey. The figure of this King is

The iconogrophicol
an actual portrait of the elder Cosimo de' Medici,
AND TESTIMONIES the most lifelike and most natural that is to be themes
found of him in our own day . .

It is not possible to describe the beauty that San-

dro depicted in the heads that are therein seen, A largenumber of scholars and art historians
As the biographer which are drawn in various att:itudes, some in have for a long time debated the meaning of The
Vasari recounts full face, some in profile, some in three-quarter Allegory of Spring from a strictly thematic
face, others bending down, and others, again, in point of view. The discovery in archives of new
various manners; with different expressions for documents concerning the Medici family and
Giorgio Vasari was born in 1511, one year after the the young and the old, and with aU the bizarre ef- the development of new hypotheses transform the
death of Botticelli, thus the information he reports fects that reveal to us the perfection of his skill. . garden of Venus and the Graces into a forest of
in his biography of the artist can no longer be con- Where [in Florence], being a man of inquiring symbols to be interpreted each time in a different
sidered first-hand. What is more, his viewpoint is mind, he made a commentary on part of Dante, manner
colored by his lack of enthusiasm for an artist illustrated the Inferno and printed it...

whom he suspected of being a "piagnone" (follow- he iconographical research ex-

er of Savonarola) , something which he, a good pounded in Aby Warburg's disser-

courtier of the Medici, could not forgive. In fact, it 1 tation was the first to establish that
was his opinion that this was the cause of the the thematic content of the painting was based
"great disorder" into which the artist fell and which on a mixture of ancient and contemporary fit-

led him to abandon painting. erary sources, all deriving from texts by Ho-
race, Seneca, Lucretius, and Ovid. According to

t the same time with the elder Lorenzo Warburg the painting represents, in the guise of
de' Medici, the Magnificent, which was the female figure set slightly back almost in the
ktruly a golden age for men of intellect, center of the picture, the goddess of Love in
there also flourished one Alessandro, called Sandro her kingdom. . . Read in this key, identification of

after our custom, and surnamed Di Botticello. . the figure of Spring is problematic, given that in
He made many works in the house of the Medici the classical genealogy of the gods this per-
for the elder Lorenzo, particularly a Pallas on a de- He also printed many of the drawings that he had sonage is not found and is mentioned only in

vice of great branches, which spouted forth fire: made, but in a bad manner, for the engraving was some allegories. Subsequent interepretations
this he painted the size of life, as he did a St Se- poorly done. The best of these that is to be seen by refer back to an affirmation by Warburg himself,
bastian. In S. Maria Maggiore in Florence, be- his hand is the Triumph of the Faith effected by according to whom in the scene on the right, in
side the Chapel of the Panciatichi, there is a very Fra' Girolamo Savonarola of Ferrara, of whose front of Zephyrus and Chloris, appears not
beautiful Reta with Me figures. For various hous- sect he was so ardent a partisan that he was there- Spring covered with flowers, but Chloris again,
es throughout the city he painted round pictures, by induced to desert his painting, and, having no changed into Flora. Ovid described Chloris as a
and many female nudes, of which there are still two income to live on, feU into very great distress. wood nymph who was beautiful but immature
at Castello, a villa of Duke Cosimo's; one repre- For this reason, persisting in his attachment to that and very clumsy, and who after being carried off
senting the birth of Venus, with those Winds and party, and becoming a Piagnone [Mourner, or by Zephyrus was changed into the flowered
Zephyrs that bring her to earth, with the Cupids; Weeper] (as the members of the sect were then goddess of the Spring. . . Chloris madly and un-
and likewise another Venus, whom the Graces called), he abandoned his work; wherefore he steadily lurches forward, while in her new guise
are covering with flowers, as a symbol of spring; ended in his old age by fiinding himself so poor, as Flora, now significantiy taller, she walks with
and all this he is seen to have expressed very that, if Lorenzo de' Medici, for whom, besides a long stride, the erect and proud bride of
gracefully. . many other things, he had done some work at Zephyrus, in the fullness other regal presence.
In the house of the Pucci, likewise, he painted the Me hospital in tiie district of Volterra, had not Following the medieval method of simultaneous
with little figures Boccaccio's tale of Nastagio succoured him the while that he lived, as did af- representation, the two women represent the
degli Onesti in four square pictures of most terwards his friends who loved him for his tal- same person, first ante and then post metamor-
charming and beautiful workmanship... It con- ent, he would almost have died of hunger" phosis."
tains the Adoration of the Magi, and wonderful [Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Painters, Sculptors,
feeling is seen in the first old man, who, kissing and Architects, Engl, trans, by G. de Vera, 1912, [Horst Bredekamp, Botticelli: la Primavera,

the foot of Our Lord, and melting with tender- Everyman's Library edition, New York, 1996] Franco Cosimo Panini, Modena, 1996]

46
 1483. Around this date executed some of his
HIS LIFE most beautiful paintings on classical themes: WHERE TO SEE
The Birth of Venus, Venus and Mars, Pallas and
IN BRIEF BOniCELLI
the Centaur With his workshop assistants pro-
duced the four panels of The Story ofNastagio
1445. Alessandro Filipepi, known as Sandro
degli Onesti. The following is a catalogue of
Botticelli, was born in Florence, in the parish of
the principal works by Botticelli conserved
Santa Maria Novella, the fourth and last child of
1485. Painted an altarpiece for the Bardi chapel in public collections. The list of works follows
Mariano, a tanner, and his wife Smeralda.
in Santo Spirito representing a Virgin and Child the alphabetical order of the cities in which
with St John the Baptist and St John the Evange- they are found. The data contain the following
1458. Apprenticed to a goldsmith. The Filipepi
list.
elements: title, dating, technique and support,
family moved to a house owned by the Rucellai
size in centimeters, location.
in Via della Vigna Nuova.
1487. Commissioned by the Magistrati di Ca-

mera to paint The Virgin of the Pomegranate for

1464. The Filipepi family moved again to a
the Audience Chamber in Palazzo Vecchio.
BERGAMO (ITALY)
house they had bought in Via Nuova. The
Stories of Virginia,
Vespucci family, their neighbors, presented 1489. The Dominican fiiar Gerolamo Savonaro-
c. 1500; tempera on panel, 165x86;
the boy to Filippo Lippi, who took him on as la preached in San Marco, vehemently attacking
Accademia Carrara.
an apprentice in his shop in Prato, to learn luxury, corruption, and manifestations of pagan-
painting. ism. Around this date Botticelli painted The St
BERLIN-DAHLEM (GERMANY)
Barnabas Altarpiece (detail reproduced below).
The Virgin and Child with St John the
1467. Returning to Florence from Prato, he
entered the shop of Verrocchio.
Baptist and St John the Evangelist
(The Bardi Altarpiece)
1485; tempera on panel, 180x185;
1469. Mariano declared for the tax roOs that his
son Sandro was a painter. At this point the artist
Staatliche Museen Gemaldegalerie.

had his own workshop.

BOSTON (united STATES)

1470. First public commission, to paint Forti-

Stories of Lucretia,

tude for the Tribunale della Mercanzia. ^ c. 1500; tempera on panel, 178x80;

f I Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

1475. Painted Giuliano de' Medici's standard

with Pallas Triumphant for a joust on horseback CAMBRIDGE (UNITED STATES)

in Piazza Santa Croce. The Mystic Crucifixion,

1500-1505; tempera on panel, 51x73;

1478. Frescoed above the door of the Customs Fogg Art Museum.
House TJie Hanged Men, with the portraits of the

conspirators Jacopo, Francesco, and Renato de' FLORENCE (ITALY)

1492. Death of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
Pazzi and the archbishop Salviati. The painting St Augustine in his Study,

was obliterated in 1494, after the flight of Piero 1480; fi-esco, 112x152;
1493-95. Death of his brother Giovanni. His
de' Medici and the establishment of the Repub- Church of Ognissanti.
brother Simone wrote the Chronicle of those
lic in Florence.
years, revealing himself to be a fervent "piagnone"
["weeper"]. With his brothers Sandrp bought
The Adoration of the Magi,

1480. Painted the fresco of St Augustine in his

vineyards and lands; painted Calumny.
1475; tempera on panel, 134x111; Uffizi.

Study for the church of Ognissanti.

1498. Savonarola burned at the stake. Calumny,

1481 Signed the contract for the frescoes in the
. c. 1495; tempera on panel, 91x62; Uffizi.

Sistine Chapel and painted the first panel. 1500-05. Botticelli's mysticism led him to cre-
ate archaized pictures; painted new masterpieces. Fortitude,
1482. Mariano Filipepi died in February. Fin- c. 1470; tempera on panel, 87x167: Uffizi.

ished the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. In Oc- 1510. Died May 17; buried in Ognissanti with
tober was in Florence. Around this time painted the rest of his family. The Birth of Venus,
The Allegory of Spring. 1482-83; tempera on panel, 278.5x172.5; Uffizi.

47
The Allegory of Spring, Venus and Mars,
c. 1482; tempera on panel, 314x203; Uffizi. 1483; tempera on panel, 173.5x69; National BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gallery.

The Virgin and Child Surrounded by The bibliography on Botticelli is exti-emely vast.

Angels, MADRID (SPAIN) Here are some suggested sources for orientation

and information on the artist, and a recent update

1470; tempera on panel, 85x120; Uffizi. The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti,
of the bibliography For an extensive listing of Bot-
(1, II, III panel)
ticelli studies, see the bibliography under the enti-y
The Madonna of the Magnificat, 1483; tempera on panel, 138x82; Prado. for Botticelli, prepared by R Salvini, in Encidopedia
1482-83; tempera on panel, 118; Uffizi. universale dell'arte, 11, 1959.

MILAN
The Virgin of the Pomegranate, Lamentation over the Dead Christ,
Uj^iQ] G. Vasari, Lives of the Painters, Sculp-
1487; tempera on panel, 143.5; Uffizi.
c. 1495: tempera on panel, 71x107; Museo tors, and Architects, (English trans-

Poldi Pezzoli. lation). New York, 1996.

The St Barnabas Altarpiece,

c. 1489; tempera on panel, 280x268; Uffizi.

The Virgin of the Book,
JBIIKl P. Home, Alessandro Filipepi com-
1480-83; tempera on panel, 39.5x58; Museo monly called Sandro Botticelli,
Pallas and the Centaur, Poldi Pezzoli. Painter of Florence, London
1482-83; tempera on canvas, 148x207; Uffizi.

K>^lil A. Venturi, Botticelli, Rome

The Virgin of the Pavilion,
Judith's Return to Bethulia,
c. 1493;. tempera on panel, 65; Pinacoteca KXfa Mesnil, Botticelli, Paris
J.
1470-72; tempera on panel, 24x31; Uffizi.
Ambrosiana.
nHSwi G.C. Argan, Botticelli, Geneva-Paris-

Portrait of a Man holding the Medal New York

MUNICH (GERMANY)
of Cosimo the Elder,
Lamentation over the Dead Christ, 3^^ G. Mandel, L'opera completa del Bot-
1474; tempera on panel, 44x57.5; Uffizi.
1489-92; oil on canvas, 207x110; ticelli, Milan

Alte Pinakothek.
St Augustine in his Study, H. Home, Botticelli. A Painter ofFlo-
rence, Princeton (N.J.)
c. 1495; tempera on panel, 27x41; Uffizi.
NAPLES (ITALY)

Virgin and Child with Angels, EES3 U. Baldini, La Primavera di Botti-

The Discovery of the Body of Holofernes,
celli. Storia di un quadro e di un
1468-69; tempera on panel, 71x100; Museo di
1470-72; tempera on panel, 25x31; Uffizi. restauro, Milan
Capodimonte.

GRANADA (SPAIN)
w^f^ E. Gombrich, Immagini simboliche.
ROME (ITALY) - PALAZZI VATICANI, SISTINE CHAPEL Studi sull'arte del Rinascimento,
Christ praying in the Garden Turin
The Trials of Christ,
of Gethsemane,
1481-82; fi-esco, 555x345.5.
1500-04; tempera on panel, 35x53; Capilla de R. Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli,

los Reyes. Milan

The Trials of Moses,
N. Pons, Botticelli. Catalogo comple-
1481-82; fi-esco, 558x348.5.
LONDON (great BRITAIN)
to, Milan
The Mystic Nativity,

c. 1501; tempera on canvas, 75x108.5; National

The Punishment of the Rebels, G. C. Argan, Botticelli, Geneva-Rome

Gallery. 1481-82; fi-esco, 570x348.5.

^SM C. Caneva, Botticelli. Catalogo com-
pleto, Florence
Episodes from the life of St Zenobius: WASHINGTON (UNITED STATES)

the Three Miracles, The Adoration of the Magi, G. Cornini, Botticelli, Florence

c. 1505; tempera on panel, 75x108.5; National 1481-82; tempera on panel, 104.2x70.2;

Gallery. National Gallery of Art. fSM M. Albertario, Botticelli, Milan

H. Bredekamp, Botticelli. La Pri-

Portrait of a Young Man, Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici, mavera, Modena
c. 1501; tempera on panel, 28.2x37.5; National 1478; tempera on panel, 52.5x76; National
Gallery Gallery of Art.
IBIiyj E. Capretti, Botticelli, Florence

48
 ONE HUNDRED PAINTINGS:
every one a masterpiece

Also available:
Raphael, Dali, Manet, Rubens,
Leonardo, Rembrandt, Van Gogh,
Kandinsky, Renoir, Chagall

%- •'
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^^H&«. j^^^^^H
V^rmeer
'"
•1
\

#^^r
5

^
^^^2
Vermeer Titian Klimt Matisse Munch
The Astronomer Sacred and Profane Love Judith I La Danse The Scream

Watteau Botticelli Cezanne Pontormo Toulouse-Lautrec

The Embarkment for Cythera Allegory of Spring Mont Sainte Victoire The Deposition At the Moulin Rouge

Coming next in the series:

Magritte, Modigliani, Schiele,

Poussin, Fussli, Bocklin, Degas,
Bosch, Arcimboldi, Redon

m MM
^,

u'ft