This often happens in the life of an amateur: you just discovered America, you just started to rejoice and be proud, and then bam - it turns out that it was discovered long before you! Well, first things first.

Every city has a must-see place. In Paris this is, of course, the Louvre, in Rome - the Coliseum, in St. Petersburg - the Hermitage, and in Florence - the Uffizi Gallery.

Of course, there is a lot to see in Florence besides the gallery, David alone is worth it!

This, as you guessed, is not the real David, but the real one here

The fact that the Uffizi Gallery is an obligatory point on any tourist route in Florence creates certain difficulties in getting into it. Our recommendation: book tickets in advance online herehttp://www.florence-museum.com/booking-tickets.php . Printed reservations must be exchanged for tickets at the gallery office opposite the main entrance. Well, then you have to stand in a tiny queue of advanced tourists just like you (compared to the huge neighboring queue of not advanced ones).

Finally, you are inside. Not everyone can try to walk through the entire gallery at once. normal person, so you need to look first of all at the very best! For us, the paintings of the great painter of the Florentine era became such “the very best”RenaissanceSandro Botticelli.

His real name is Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi. Botticelli, or roughly translated “from the family of barrels”, is rather a nickname that the thin Sandro “inherited” after his older brother - a fat man and truly a real “barrel” (such a special Florentine logic).

The Uffizi Gallery has several rooms dedicated to his works. “The Birth of Venus”, “Spring”, portraits of Dante and Giuliano Medici - these works by Botticelli have been known almost since school.

But reproductions in a textbook are one thing, but here are the originals, here they are, at arm’s length. An unforgettable experience! Looking at the paintings, I come to a completely unexpected conclusion that all the “main female roles” in the majority of Botticelli’s paintings presented in the Uffizi Gallery are given to the same “actress”! It seems that most of his paintings actually depict the same woman! The wife standing next to him comes to the same conclusion. Can't be? Judge for yourself

As we found out later, the secret of the stranger in Botticelli’s paintings was discovered back in the 16th century by the Italian painter Giorgio Vasari.

Vasari lived in Florence almost thirty years after Botticelli's death. As an artist, Vasari did not succeed, although at one time he was a student of Michelangelo himself. But he actually became the founder of modern art criticism, writing main work of your life - meeting 178biographies of Italian Renaissance artists " Lives of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects». It was in this work, published in 1568, that Giorgio Vasari put forward a hypothesis regarding the name of the woman whom Sandro Botticelli glorified in almost all of his works. According to Vasari, this woman is Simonetta Vespucci, the first beauty of Florence in the second half of the 15th century.

Contemporaries considered her beauty to be a divine gift, the embodiment of a perfect plan, and for her beauty the girl received the nickname Incomparable and Beautiful Simonetta.

In April 146916-year-old Simonetta married her peer Marco Vespucci, a distant relative of the future famous Florentine navigatorAmerigo Vespucci And,after which the new continent discovered by Columbus will be named (another example of a peculiar logic). I didn’t find a portrait of Marco Vespucci, but Amerigo is here

Of course, Simonetta Vespucci was inaccessible to Botticelli:

- But what does she care about me - she was in Paris,

- Marcel Marceau himself told her something!

After all, he is a simple, albeit fashionable, painter, but she is the wife of one of the bankers of the Medici family ruling in Florence, the one whose favor was sought by all Florentine noble men, including the ruler of the city, Lorenzo the Magnificent (here is his bust from the collection of the Uffizi Gallery)

as well as his younger brother Giuliano (here is his portrait by Botticelli):

With all this, Sandro, if he wanted, could admire Simonetta Vespucci every day - their house was adjacent to the Vespucci Palazzo. Did Simonetta know about Sandro’s existence? If she knew, then most likely she hardly attached any significance to this knowledge. But for Botticelli it was ideal woman. This is confirmed by the fact that “The Birth of Venus”, and “Spring”, and “Venus and Mars”, as well as “Portrait of a Young Woman” were written by the artist after the death of Simonetta, who died suddenly on April 26, 1476 at the age of 23 at the height of the tuberculosis epidemic that broke out in Florence. Thus, Botticelli returns to the image of Simonetta again and again, even 9 years after her death. But does it suit her image? After all, for obvious reasons, there are no photographs of Simonetta during her lifetime, and no clearly attributed portraits have survived. Most likely, Sandro was drawing a certain, in the words of the poet Mikhail Kuzmin, “for eternal ages, a symbol of fleeting youth,” embodied for him in Simonetta.

Sandro Botticelli never married, lived a long life, died at the age of 65 and, in accordance with his will, was buried in Florence in the Church of All Saints (Chiesa di Ognissanti), in which Simonetta Vespucci had previously been buried. We found this church, although just before it closed.

A black (!) Franciscan monk gave us a mini tour of the church.

This is such a love story.

But lastly, I would like to tell you another no less romantic, but also instructive story about love.

In Botticelli’s painting “The Birth of Venus” in the upper left corner we can see such a strange couple: a floating young man with puffy cheeks and a girl who has wrapped her beau not only with her arms, but also with her legs!

This young man is Zephyr, the god of the western spring wind, in the picture he is driving a shell with a newly born Venus to the shore. And the girl is the legal wife of Zephyr, the Greek goddess of flowers Chloris, whom the Romans called Flora.

At first, Chloris avoided Zephyr’s persistent advances and ignored him in every possible way. Here she is running away from the loving Zephyr in the right corner in Botticelli’s painting “Spring”.

In the end, Zephyr was overcome by such a wild passion that, having broken the Olympic record for catching up with girls, he overtook Chloris and took possession of her by force. Oh how! The result was that in the girl there arose no less, but a stronger, such a wild, forward, reciprocal passion for Zephyr that she clung to him with her whole body and never parted with him again, tightly wrapping her now husband with all her existing limbs .

And since then, Zephyr has always been with his wife Chlorida-Flora. And during the day, and at night, and on vacation, and at work, and at a concert, and at a banquet, and at football, and in the bathhouse at a meeting with classmates!

As they say, we ran into what we fought for! So study HISTORY!

There is no painting more poetic than the painting of Sandro Botticelli (Botticelli, Sandro). The artist gained recognition due to the subtlety and expressiveness of his style. The artist’s vividly individual style is characterized by the musicality of light, tremulous lines, the transparency of cold, refined colors, the animation of the landscape, and the whimsical play of linear rhythms. He always sought to pour his soul into new pictorial forms.

Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi was born on March 1, 1445, the son of Mariano and Smeralda Filipepi. Like many people in the area, his father was a tanner. The first mention of Alessandro, as well as of other Florentine artists, we find in the so-called “portate al Catasto”, that is, the cadastre, where statements of income were made for taxation, which, in accordance with the decree of the Republic of 1427, the head of each Florentine state was obliged to make families. In 1458, Mariano Filipepi indicated that he had four sons: Giovanni, Antonio, Simone and thirteen-year-old Sandro, and added that Sandro was “learning to read, he is a sickly boy.” Alessandro received his nickname Botticelli (“barrel”) from his older brother. Father wanted younger son followed in the footsteps of Antonio, who had worked as a goldsmith since at least 1457, which would mark the beginning of a small but reliable family enterprise.

According to Vasari, at that time there was such a close connection between jewelers and painters that entering the workshop of one meant gaining direct access to the craft of others, and Sandro, who was fairly skilled in drawing, an art necessary for accurate and confident “blackening,” soon became interested in painting and decided to devote himself to it, without forgetting the most valuable lessons in jewelry art, in particular, clarity in drawing outlines. Around 1464, Sandro entered the workshop of Fra Filippo Lippi of the Convent of Carmine, the most excellent painter of that time, which he left in 1467 at the age of twenty-two.

Early period of creativity

The style of Filippo Lippi had a huge influence on Botticelli, manifested mainly in certain types faces, ornamental details and coloring. 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 style. These changes appear in their entirety in the earliest documented painting for the Merchant Court, Allegory of Power. (c.1470, Florence, Uffizi Gallery) and in a 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 Botticelli's paintings: a lively and capacious narrative, in which expression and action are combined, revealing with complete clarity the dramatic essence of the plot. They also reveal a change in color that has already begun, becoming brighter and more saturated, in contrast to the pale palette of Filippo Lippi that predominates in Botticelli’s earliest painting, The Adoration of the Magi (London, National Gallery).

Probably, already in 1469 Botticelli can be considered an independent artist, since in the cadastre of the same year Mariano stated that his son worked at home. At the time of their father's death, the Filipepis owned significant property. He died in October 1469, and already in next year Sandro opened his own workshop.

In 1472, Sandro entered the Guild of St. Luke. Botticelli receives orders mainly in Florence.

The heyday of a master

In 1469, power in Florence passed to the grandson of Cosimo the Old - Lorenzo Medici, nicknamed the Magnificent. His courtyard becomes the center of Florentine culture. Lorenzo, a friend of artists and poets, himself a sophisticated poet and thinker, becomes Botticelli's patron and customer.

Among Botticelli's works, only a few have reliable dating; many of his paintings have been dated based on stylistic analysis. Some of the most 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 - a 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, stylistic fluctuations and direct borrowings from other artists, inherent in his work, disappeared in Botticelli's works. early works. By this time he was already confidently mastering completely individual style: the figures of the characters acquire 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. Objects surrounding St. Augustine, - a music stand, books, scientific instruments - demonstrate Botticelli's mastery of the still life genre: they are depicted with precision and clarity, revealing the artist's ability to capture the essence of form, but at the same time they do not catch the eye and do not distract from the main thing. Perhaps this interest in still life is due to the influence Dutch painting, which aroused the admiration of the Florentines of the 15th century. Of course, Dutch art influenced Botticelli's interpretation of the landscape. Leonardo da Vinci wrote that “our Botticelli” showed little interest in landscape: “... he says that this is a waste of time, because it is enough just to throw a sponge soaked in paints on the wall, and it will leave a spot in which one can distinguish beautiful landscape" Botticelli was usually content to use conventional motifs for the backgrounds of his paintings, diversifying them with the inclusion of motifs from Netherlandish painting, such as Gothic churches, castles and walls, to achieve a romantic-picturesque effect.

The artist paints a lot on orders from Lorenzo de' Medici and his relatives. In 1475, on the occasion of the tournament, he painted a banner for Giuliano de' Medici. And once he even captured his customers in the form of Magi in the painting “Adoration of the Magi” (1475-1478). Here you can also find the artist’s first self-portrait. The most fruitful period in Botticelli's work begins. Judging by the number of his students and assistants registered in the cadastre, in 1480 Botticelli's workshop enjoyed wide recognition.

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 the Life of Moses, the Healing of the Leper and the Temptation of Christ, and the Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Abyron. In all three frescoes the problem of presenting a complex theological program in clear, light and lively dramatic scenes is masterfully solved; while making 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), among the most famous works Renaissance and representing genuine masterpieces of 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 ancient art, good knowledge of classical sculpture or sketches from it, which were widespread during the Renaissance. Thus, the graces from Spring go back to classical group 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.

Crisis of the soul crisis of creativity

In the 1490s, Florence was experiencing political and social upheaval - the expulsion of the Medici, the short-term reign of Savonarola with his accusatory religious and mystical sermons directed against papal prestige and the wealthy Florentine patriciate.

Botticelli's soul, torn by contradictions, feeling the beauty of the world discovered by the Renaissance, but fearing its sinfulness, could not stand it. Mystical notes begin to sound in his art, nervousness and drama appear. In Cestello's Annunciation (1484-1490, Uffizi), the first signs of mannerism already appear, which gradually grew in Botticelli's later works, 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 in the allegorical painting Calumny (Uffizi), in which the master exalts own work, associating him with the work of Apelles, the greatest of the ancient Greek painters

In the painting “The Wedding of the Mother of God” (1490), the faces of the angels show a stern, intense obsession, and in the swiftness of their poses and gestures there is an almost Bacchic selflessness.”

After the death of the master's patron Lorenzo de' Medici (1492) and the execution of Savonarola (1498), his character finally changed. The artist abandoned not only the interpretation of humanistic themes, but also the plastic language that was previously characteristic of him. His latest paintings They are distinguished by their asceticism and laconic color scheme. His works are imbued with pessimism and hopelessness. One of the famous paintings of this time, "Abandoned" (1495-1500), depicts crying woman, sitting on the steps near a stone wall with a tightly closed gate.

“The growing religious exaltation reaches tragic peaks in his two monumental “Lamentations of Christ,” writes N.A. Belousova, “where the images of Christ’s loved ones surrounding his lifeless body are full of heartbreaking sorrow. And at the same time, Botticelli’s painting style itself seems to mature Instead of fragile incorporeality - clear, generalized volumes, instead of exquisite combinations of faded shades - powerful colorful harmonies, where, in contrast with dark, harsh tones, bright spots of cinnabar and carmine red sound especially pathetic."

In 1495, the artist completed the last of his works for the Medici, painting several works for a side branch of the family at the villa in Trebbio.

In 1498, the Botticelli family, as the cadastre entry shows, owned considerable property: they had a house in the Santa Maria Novella quarter and, in addition, received income from the Villa Belsguardo, located outside the city, outside the gates of San Frediano.

After 1500, the artist rarely picked up a brush. His only signature work from the early sixteenth century is “The Mystical Nativity” (1500, London, National Gallery). The master’s attention is now focused on depicting a wonderful vision, while space performs an auxiliary function. This new trend in the relationship between figures and space is also characteristic of illustrations for " Divine Comedy"Dante, executed by pen in a magnificent manuscript.

In 1502, the artist received an invitation to go to the service of Isabella d'Este, Duchess of Mantua. However, for unknown reasons, this trip did not take place.

Although he was already an elderly man and had given up painting, his opinion continued to be taken into account. In 1504, together with Giuliano da Sangallo, Cosimo Rosselli, Leonardo da Vinci and Filippino Lippi, Botticelli participated in the commission that was to choose the location for the installation of David, just sculpted by the young Michelangelo. Filippino Lippi's solution was considered the most successful, and the marble giant was placed on the plinth in front of the Palazzo della Signoria. In the memoirs of his contemporaries, Botticelli appears cheerful and kind person. He kept the doors of his house open and willingly received his friends there. The artist did not hide the secrets of his skill from anyone, and he had no end to his students. Even his teacher Lippi brought his son Filippino to him.

Analysis of some works

"Judith", ca 1470

Represents a work clearly related to late creativity Lipley. This is a kind of reflection on what a feeling is. The heroine is depicted in the tremulous light of dawn after completing her feat. The breeze tugs at her dress, the agitation of the folds conceals the movement of her body, it is unclear how she maintains her balance and maintains an even posture. The artist conveys the sadness that gripped the girl, the feeling of emptiness that replaced active action. What we have before us is not some specific feeling, but a state of mind, a desire for something unclear, either in anticipation of the future, or out of regret for what has been done, consciousness of the futility, sterility of history and the melancholy dissolution of feeling in nature, which has no history, where everything happens without the help of will.

"Saint Sebastian" 1473

The figure of the saint is devoid of stability; the artist lightens and lengthens its proportions, so that the beautiful shape of the saint’s body can be compared only with the blueness of the empty sky, which seems even more inaccessible due to the remoteness of the landscape. The clear form of the body is not filled with light, the light surrounds the matter, as if dissolving it, and the line makes certain shadows and light against the sky. The artist does not extol the hero, but only feels sad about the desecrated or defeated beauty, which the world does not understand, because its source is beyond the boundaries of worldly ideas, beyond the boundaries of natural space, as well as historical time.

"Spring" c.1478

Her symbolic meaning diverse and complex, its idea can be understood in different ways. Its conceptual meaning is fully accessible only to specialist philosophers, moreover, initiates, but it is clear to everyone who is able to feel the beauty of a grove and a flowering meadow, the rhythm of figures, the attractiveness of bodies and faces, the smoothness of lines, the finest. chromatic combinations. If the meaning of conventional signs is no longer limited to recording and explaining reality, but is used to overcome and encrypt it, then what is the use of all the wealth of positive knowledge that was accumulated by Florentine painting in the first half of the century and which led to grandiose Pierrot's theoretical constructions? And therefore, perspective as a way of depicting space loses its meaning, light as a physical reality makes no sense, and there is no point in conveying density and volume as specific manifestations of materiality and space. The alternation of parallel trunks or the pattern of leaves in the background of “Spring” have nothing to do with perspective, but it is precisely in comparison with this background, devoid of depth, that the smooth development of the linear rhythms of the figures, contrasting with the parallelism of the trunks, takes on special significance, just as subtle color transitions receive a special sound in combination with dark tree trunks that stand out sharply against the sky.

Paintings in the Sistine Chapel 1481- 1482 g

Botticelli's frescoes are written in biblical and gospel stories, but are not interpreted in a “historical” sense. For example, scenes from the life of Moses are intended to prefigure the life of Christ. The themes of other paintings also have a figurative meaning: “The Cleansing of the Leper” and “The Temptation of Christ” contain an allusion to Christ’s faithfulness to the law of Moses and, therefore, to the continuity of the Old and New Testaments. “The Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Abiron” also hints at the continuity of God’s law (which is symbolically expressed by the arch of Constantine in the background) and the inevitability of punishment for those who transgress it, which is clearly linked in the viewer’s mind with heretical teachings. In some things one can see a hint of contemporary artist persons and circumstances. But by linking together historically different events, Botticelli destroys the spatio-temporal unity and even the meaning of the narrative itself. Individual episodes, despite the time and space separating them, are welded together with stormy upswings of linear rhythm that arise after long pauses, and this rhythm, which has lost its melodic, smooth character, full of sudden impulses and dissonances, is now entrusted with the role of a carrier of drama, which cannot be more expressed through the actions or gestures of individual characters.

"Birth of Venus" ca.1485

This is by no means a pagan chant female beauty: Among the meanings embedded in it is the Christian idea of ​​​​the birth of a soul from water during baptism. The beauty that the artist seeks to glorify is, in any case, spiritual beauty, not physical: the naked body of the goddess means naturalness and purity, the needlessness of jewelry. Nature is represented by its elements (air, water, earth). The sea, agitated by the breeze blown by Aeolus and Boreas, appears as a bluish-green surface on which the waves are depicted with the same schematic signs. The shell is also symbolic. Against the background of a wide sea horizon, three rhythmic episodes develop with varying intensity - the winds, Venus emerging from a shell, a maid receiving her with a bedspread decorated with flowers (a hint of the green cover of nature). Three times the rhythm begins, reaches maximum tension and dies out.

"Annunciation"1489-1490

the artist brings unusual confusion into the scene, which is usually so idyllic, the Angel bursts into the room and quickly falls to his knees, and behind him, like streams of air cut through in flight, his transparent, glass-like, barely visible clothes rise up. His right hand with a large hand and long nervous fingers is extended towards Maria, and Maria, as if blind, as if in oblivion, stretches out her hand towards him. It seems as if internal currents, invisible but clearly perceptible, flow from his hand to Mary’s hand and make her whole body tremble and bend.

"Mystical Christmas" 1500 g,

Perhaps the most ascetic, but at the same time the most sharply polemical of all his works last period. And he accompanies it with an apocalyptic inscription, which predicts enormous troubles for the coming century. It depicts an unimaginable space in which the figures in the foreground are smaller than those more distant, for this is how the “primitives” acted, the lines do not converge at one point, but zigzag across the landscape, as if in a Gothic miniature inhabited by angels.

Tutoring

Need help studying a topic?

Our specialists will advise or provide tutoring services on topics that interest you.
Submit your application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.

Most likely, not everyone knows the name of Sandro Botticelli - the great Italian artist, a representative of the early Renaissance, but almost everyone knows his work “The Birth of Venus”. It is marked by spiritualized poetry, admiration for the beauty of a woman’s face and body, which reign over time and space.

For quite a long time, his work was unjustly forgotten, but already in the 19th century, French artists largely imitated the mystical-minded Italian and created new image, for which we still feel admiration and admiration for the artist’s wonderful gift.

Biography of the painter

Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi was born in the mid-15th century in Florence, the birthplace of the southern Renaissance, into the family of an artisan tanner. Soon after his father's death, his business passed to the elder brother of little Alessandra, nicknamed "The Barrel" (Botticelli) because of his beer belly or a strong tendency to drink wine.

All four younger ones also received a funny nickname from their older brother. Thanks to the efforts of his older brothers, the future famous artist was educated at a Dominican monastery.

One of the first professions Sandro received was the respected and highly sought after profession of a jeweler at that time. She taught the artist how to correctly apply golden and silver shades to the landscapes of her paintings. By the way, some researchers of Renaissance art believe that the name “Botticelli” means silversmith.

The middle brother Antonio became a famous jeweler, and Alessandro decided to devote his life to painting. In 1470, the young artist received his first order from the monastery of St. Dominic: he was instructed to depict an allegory of Power for the gallery of Christian virtues. The painting was placed in the Chamber of Commerce courtroom. A year later, the young painter was talked about all over Italy.

His Saint Sebastian, written for the church of Saint Mary Margiore, is truly virtuous, through the beautiful features of the young Christian Sandro showed his soul, pure and innocent. All the artist’s works are permeated with ardent faith and unostentatious love for God. They combine unsurpassed skill and spiritual fulfillment and ease.

In the same year, he shows himself to be a skilled restorer, restoring a completely lost fresco in the Chapel of the Coronation of the Mother of God.

In 1470, the painter became close to the noble Medici family, who surrounded themselves famous poets, musicians, philosophers and painters. The so-called “medical circle” preached the philosophy of Plato, i.e. subjective idealism.

They believed in immortal soul, endowed with talents and abilities that the soul can retain after death and transfer to a new owner. This explains the emergence of brilliant works of art, as well as intuitive knowledge.

The best works of the artist

One of best works Sandro Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi is considered to have been created after 1470. It is dedicated to the most important holiday of Christians - the Birth of Jesus Christ.

In the images of the eastern wise men who came to worship the Messiah, the painter depicted members of the Medici family, as well as himself, standing in the lower right corner of the work. The bright and light colors of the painting seem to be filled with air and inspire awe and divine joy.

One of the most mysterious works of the artist is considered to be the canvas “Spring”, dating back to 1475-1480. The painting was created for Lorenzo de' Medici, Sandro Botticelli's close friend and patron of the arts.

The painting was painted in a completely new style for that time, successfully combining antiquity, Christianity, and new features of the Renaissance.

Antique style shown by representatives of myths and legends Ancient Greece: God Zephyr, a light wind, kidnaps the nymph - the mistress of the fields and meadows, Chloris. Three graceful graces in the form of nymphs or naiads recall the three Christian virtues: chastity, submission and pleasure, as well as eternal love.

Mercury, the god of trade, roads and fraud, picks an apple from a tree and involuntarily reminds us of Paris, who gave the apple to the goddess of beauty and love Aphrodite. And the goddess herself seems to be flying without her feet touching the ground, her image is light and airy, and at the same time seductive and captivating, reminiscent of passionate love and carnal passion.

In the center of the canvas is the Madonna - the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of God, elevated to the rank of Gods, and shining with her virtue and beauty throughout the Universe. For everyone, the Virgin Mary is considered the model of all women, the ideal of all knights, the “Beautiful Lady”, who inspires all people of art to create her image.

With this mixture of myths and eras, the painter shows us that people equally in all eras love and dream, suffer and strive for happiness. Both the standards of art and the norms of beauty do not change, for Eternal beauty always attracts all hearts to itself.

A wonderful work filled with light, joy and peace. Looking at him, you feel that little cupids in reality are sending their love arrows into all hearts. For a long time you cannot take your eyes off the figures on the canvas, frozen at the will of the artist, so alive and as if frozen for a moment in graceful poses.

Jewel of creation

The world famous painting “The Birth of Venus” was painted in 1484 and is currently in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Among the boundless expanse of the azure sky and turquoise sea, beautiful Venus appeared from the foam of the sea, standing on a mother-of-pearl shell. The god of the western wind Zephyr, with his breath, helps the eternally young goddess to land on the shore, and the goddess Ora gives her a priceless cloak embroidered with flowers and herbs.

All earthly nature awaits the appearance of the goddess of Love and Beauty, white roses fly to her feet, and the picture is illuminated by rays rising sun. The association of early morning and the birth of the goddess indicates that love and tenderness are always young and in demand by people.

It is not known who the artist’s model was, but the face of the goddess with amazingly beautiful features is meek, a little sad and humble. Long golden locks blown by the wind. And the woman’s pose is reminiscent of the pose of the famous sculpture of Venus the Bashful, created in the 5th century BC.

last years of life

At the end of the 1490s, Luigi de' Medici died, and the reign of this dynasty came to an end. The sworn enemy of this family, the Dominican monk Girolamo Sovanarola, who had previously angrily reproached the ruling dynasty for luxury and debauchery, came to power.

Some Renaissance scholars believe that Sandro Botticelli became a “convert” because the style of his work changed dramatically.

But the power of the monk Sovanarola was fleeting; in 1498 he was accused of heresy and executed by burning at the stake. But by this time the glory of the great painter was fading. Contemporaries write that he “became impoverished and withered,” could not walk or stand upright, so he worked very little. Works created in last years life - this is “Mystical Christmas”, “Abandoned”, frescoes dedicated to the Roman saints, the first Christians Lucretia and Virginia.

After 1504, the artist completely stopped touching his brush, and if it were not for the help of his friends and relatives, he would simply have died of hunger.

Biography of Sandro Botticelli very rich. Let's start with the fact that his name is a nickname. His real name was Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi. Sandro is short for Alessandro, but Botticelli’s nickname stuck to him because that was the name of one of the artist’s older brothers. Translated, this means “barrel”. He was born in Florence in 1445.

The father of the future artist was a tanner. Around 1458, little Sandro was already working as an apprentice in a jewelry workshop that belonged to one of his older brothers. But he did not stay there for long, and already in the early 1460s he was enrolled as an apprentice to the artist Fra Philippa Lippi.

The years in Lippi's art workshop were fun and productive. The artist and his student got along well with each other. Subsequently, Lippi himself became a student of Botticelli. Since 1467, Sandro opened his own workshop.

Botticelli completed his first order for the courtroom. This was in 1470. By 1475, Sandro Botticelli was a well-known and sought-after master. He began to create frescoes and paint paintings for churches.

Botticelli was considered “an insider” almost everywhere, including in wealthy royal families. So, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, when he bought a villa for himself, invited Sandro Botticelli to live with him and paint pictures for the interior. It was at this time that Botticelli painted his two most famous paintings - “” and “”. Both paintings are presented on our website with detailed descriptions.

By 1481, Botticelli traveled to Rome at the invitation of Pope Sixtus IV. He took part in the mural, which had just been completed.

After his father's death in 1482, Botticelli returned to his native Florence. Having survived the tragedy, the artist took up paintings again. Customers flocked to his workshop, so some work was carried out by the master's apprentice, and he only took on more complex and prestigious orders. This time was the peak of Sandro Botticelli's fame. He was reputed to be the most the best artist Italy.

But ten years later the government changed. Savonarola ascended the throne, who despised the Medici, their luxury, and corruption. Botticelli had a hard time. In addition, in 1493, Botticelli’s brother Giovanni, whom he loved very much, died. Botticelli lost all support. Although this period did not last long, because in 1498 Savonarol was excommunicated and publicly burned at the stake, it was still very difficult.

Towards the end of his life, Botticelli was very lonely. About him former glory not a trace remained. He was rejected as an artist and no more orders were made. He died in 1510.

Sandro Botticelli (Italian: Sandro Botticelli, real name Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (Italian: Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi; March 1, 1445 - May 17, 1510) - a great Italian painter of the Renaissance, a representative of the Florentine school of painting.

Botticelli was born into the family of tanner Mariano di Giovanni Filipepi and his wife Smeralda in the Santa Maria Novella quarter of Florence. The nickname “Botticelli” (barrel) came to him from his older brother Giovanni, who was a fat man.

Botticelli did not come to painting right away: at first he was an apprentice to the goldsmith Antonio for two years (there is a version that the young man received his surname from him). In 1462 he began to study painting with Fra Filippo Lippi, in whose studio he stayed for five years. In connection with Lippi's departure to Spoleto, he moved to the workshop of Andrea Verrocchio.

Botticelli's first independent works - several images of Madonnas - in their manner of execution demonstrate closeness to the works of Lippi and Masaccio, the most famous are: “Madonna and Child, Two Angels and Young John the Baptist” (1465-1470), “Madonna and Child and Two Angels” ( 1468-1470), “Madonna in the Rose Garden” (circa 1470), “Madonna of the Eucharist” (circa 1470).

From 1470 he had his own workshop near the Church of All Saints. The painting "Allegory of Force" (Fortitude), painted in 1470, marks the discovery of Botticelli own style. In 1470-1472 he wrote a diptych about the story of Judith: “The Return of Judith” and “The Finding of the Body of Holofernes.”

In 1472, the name Botticelli was first mentioned in the Red Book of the Company of St. Luke. It also states that his student is Filippino Lippi.

At the festival in honor of the saint on January 20, 1474, the painting “Saint Sebastian” was placed with great solemnity on one of the pillars in the Florentine church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which explains its elongated format.

Around 1475, the painter painted the famous painting “The Adoration of the Magi” for the wealthy townsman Gaspare del Lama, in which, in addition to representatives of the Medici family, he also depicted himself. Vasari wrote: “Truly this work is the greatest miracle, and it is brought to such perfection in color, design and composition that every artist is amazed by it to this day.”

At this time, Botticelli became famous as a portrait painter. The most significant are the “Portrait of an Unknown Man with a Medal by Cosimo Medici” (1474-1475), as well as portraits of Giuliano Medici and Florentine ladies.

In 1476, Simonetta Vespucci dies, according to a number of researchers, the secret love and model of a number of paintings by Botticelli, who never married.

Botticelli's quickly spreading fame went beyond the borders of Florence. Since the late 1470s, the artist has received numerous orders. “And then he won for himself... in Florence and beyond its borders such fame that Pope Sixtus IV, who built a chapel in his Roman palace and wanted to paint it, ordered him to be put in charge of the work.”

In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV summoned Botticelli to Rome. Together with Ghirlandaio, Rosselli and Perugino, Botticelli decorated the walls of the Papal Chapel in the Vatican with frescoes, which is known as The Sistine Chapel. After Michelangelo painted the ceiling and altar wall under Julius II in 1508-1512, it will gain worldwide fame.

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.

Botticelli attended the Platonic Academy of Lorenzo the Magnificent, where he met Ficino, Pico and Poliziano, thereby falling under the influence of Neoplatonism, which was reflected in his paintings of secular themes.

Botticelli's most famous and most mysterious work is “Spring” (Primavera) (1482).
The painting together with “Pallas and the Centaur” (1482-1483) by Botticelli and “Madonna and Child” unknown author was intended to decorate the Florentine palace of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, a representative of the Medici family.
The painter was inspired to create the painting, in particular, by a fragment from Lucretius’ poem “On the Nature of Things”:

This is part of a Wikipedia article used under the CC-BY-SA license. Full text of the article here →