Botticelli Sandro(Botticelli, Sandro)

Botticelli Sandro(Botticelli, Sandro) (1445-1510), one of the most prominent artists of the Renaissance. Born in Florence in 1444 in the family of a leather tanner Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (Botticelli's nickname, meaning "barrel", actually belonged to his older brother). After initial education at the jeweler 1462 Botticelli entered the workshop of one of the leading painters of Florence, Fra Filippo Lippi. The style of Filippo Lippi had a huge influence on Botticelli, manifested mainly in certain types faces, ornamental details and coloring. In his works of the late 1460s, the fragile, planar 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 skin color - a technique that became feature his painting style. These changes appear in their entirety in Botticelli's earliest documented painting, 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 early works of the master (c. 1470), illustrate another important aspect painting by Botticelli: a lively and capacious narrative, in which expression and action are combined, revealing the dramatic essence of the plot with complete clarity. They also reveal an already begun change in color, which becomes brighter and more saturated, in contrast to the pale palette of Filippo Lippi, which prevails in the early painting Botticelli - Adoration of the Magi (London, National Gallery).

Paintings by Botticelli:

Among the works of Botticelli, only a few have reliable dates; many of his paintings have been dated based on stylistic analysis. Some of the most famous works date back to the 1470s: the painting of St. Sebastian (1473), the earliest depiction of a naked body in the work of the master; Adoration of the Magi (c. 1475, Uffizi). Two portraits of a young man (Florence, Pitti Gallery) and a Florentine lady (London, Victoria and Albert Museum) date from the early 1470s. Somewhat later, perhaps in 1476, a portrait of Giuliano 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 set forth in Leon Battista Alberti's first outstanding theoretical treatise on Renaissance painting (On Painting, 1435–1436) and experimented with perspective. By the end of the 1470s, the stylistic fluctuations and direct borrowings from other artists inherent in his early works disappeared in the works of Botticelli. By this time, he already confidently owned a completely individual style: the figures of the characters acquire a strong structure, and their contours miraculously combine clarity and elegance with vigor; dramatic expressiveness is achieved by combining active action and deep inner experience. All these qualities are present in the fresco of St. Augustine (Florence, Ognisanti Church), written in 1480 as a paired composition to the fresco of Ghirlandaio St. Jerome.

Items around St. Augustine, - a music stand, books, scientific instruments - demonstrate Botticelli's skill in the still life genre: they are depicted with accuracy and clarity, revealing the artist's ability to grasp the essence of form, but at the same time they are not striking and do not distract from the main thing. Perhaps this interest in still life is due to the influence Dutch painting, admired by the Florentines of the 15th century. Of course, Netherlandish art influenced Botticelli's interpretation of the landscape. Leonardo da Vinci wrote that "our Botticelli" showed little interest in the landscape: "... he says that this is an empty exercise, because it is enough just to throw a sponge soaked in colors on the wall, and it will leave a spot in which one can discern a beautiful landscape." Botticelli generally contented himself with using conventional motifs for the backgrounds of his paintings, varying them by incorporating Netherlandish painting motifs such as Gothic churches, castles and walls to achieve a romantic-painterly effect.

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 rebuilt Sistine Chapel. He completed three of these frescoes: Scenes from life of Moses, Healing of a leper and the temptation of Christ and the Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Abiron. In all three frescoes, the problem of presenting a complex theological program in clear, light and lively dramatic scenes is masterfully solved; while making full use of compositional effects.

After returning to Florence, perhaps in late 1481 or early 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), which are among the most famous works renaissance period and representing genuine masterpieces Western European art. The characters and plots of these paintings are inspired by the works of ancient poets, primarily Lucretius and Ovid, as well as mythology. They feel the influence ancient art, good knowledge classical sculpture or sketches from it, which were widespread in the Renaissance. Thus, the graces from Spring go back to the classical group of three graces, and the pose of Venus from the Birth of Venus goes back to the Venus Pudica type (Venus bashful).

Some scholars see these paintings as a visual embodiment of the main ideas of the Florentine Neoplatonists, especially Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499). However, adherents of this hypothesis ignore the sensual principle in the three paintings depicting 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 the wedding. They are the most remarkable surviving works of this genre of painting, which celebrates marriage and the virtues associated with the birth of love in the soul of a pure and beautiful bride. The same ideas are the main ones in 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.

The magical grace, beauty, imaginative richness and brilliant execution inherent in mythological paintings are also present in several of Botticelli's famous altarpieces painted during the 1480s. Among the best are the Bardi Altarpiece depicting the Virgin and Child with St. John the Baptist (1484) and the Annunciation of Cestello (1484–1490, Uffizi). But in the Annunciation of Cestello, the first signs of mannerism are already appearing, which gradually increased in the later works of Botticelli, leading him away from the fullness and richness of nature. mature period creativity to a style in which the artist admires the peculiarities 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 the works of Botticelli of the 1490s and early 1500s, even for the allegorical painting Slander (Uffizi), in which the master exalts his own work, associating it with the creation of Apelles, the greatest of ancient Greek painters. Two paintings, painted after the fall of the Medici in 1494 and influenced by the sermons of Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498), - the Crucifixion (Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fogg Art Museum) and the Mystical Nativity (1500, London, National Gallery), - represent the embodiment of Botticelli's unshakable faith in the revival of the Church. These two paintings reflect the artist's rejection of the secular Florence of the Medici era. Other works by the master, such as Scenes from the Life of a Roman Woman Virginia (Bergamo, Accademia Carrara) and Scenes from the Life of a Roman Woman Lucretia (Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), express his hatred of the tyranny of the Medici.

Few drawings by Botticelli himself have survived, although it is known that he was often commissioned for sketches for fabrics and prints. Of exceptional interest is his series of illustrations for Divine Comedy Dante. Deeply thought-out graphic comments to great poem largely remained unfinished.

About 50 paintings are entirely or largely by Botticelli. He was the head of a flourishing workshop, working in the same genres as the master himself, in which products of different quality were created. Many of the paintings are written own hand Botticelli or made according to his plan. Almost all of them are characterized by pronounced flatness and linearity in the interpretation of form, combined with frank mannerism. Botticelli died in Florence on May 17, 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) is a great Italian Renaissance painter, a representative of the Florentine school of painting.

Botticelli was born to Mariano di Giovanni Filipepi, a tanner, and his wife, Smeralda, in the Santa Maria Novella quarter of Florence. The nickname "Botticelli" (keg) passed to him from his older brother Giovanni, who was a fat man.

Teaching craftsmanship (1445-1467)

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

First independent works Botticelli - several images of the Madonnas - in the manner of execution demonstrate closeness to the works of Lippi and Masaccio, the most famous: "Madonna and Child, two angels and the young John the Baptist" (1465-1470), "Madonna and Child and two angels" (1468-1470), "Madonna in the Rose Garden" (about 1470), "Madonna of the Eucharist" (about 1470).

"Madonna of the Eucharist"

Early work (1470-1480)

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

In 1472, the name Botticelli was first mentioned in the "Red Book" of the company of St. Luke. It also indicates that a student of Filippino Lippi works for him.

At the feast 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 “Adoration of the Magi” for the wealthy citizen 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 has been brought to such perfection in color, drawing and composition that every artist is still amazed at him.”

"Adoration of the Magi" (circa 1475)

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

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

"Portrait of an unknown person with a medal of Cosimo de Medici the Elder"

Giuliano Medici

Portrait of a young woman

Stay in Rome (1481-1482)

The rapidly spreading fame of Botticelli went beyond Florence. Since the late 1470s, the artist has received numerous commissions. “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 wished to paint it, ordered to put him at the head of the work.”

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

Botticelli created three frescoes for the chapel: “The Punishment of Korea, Daphne and Aviron”, “The Temptation of Christ” and “The Calling of Moses”, as well as 11 papal portraits.

"The Temptation of Christ"

"The Call of Moses"

Secular works of the 1480s

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

The most famous and most mysterious work of Botticelli - "Spring" (Primavera) (1482). Painting together with Pallas and the Centaur (1482-1483) 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 creation of the canvas of the painter was inspired, in particular, by a fragment from Lucretius's poem "On the Nature of Things":

Here is Spring, and Venus is coming, and Venus is winged

The messenger is coming ahead, and, Zephyr after, before them

Flora-mother walks and, scattering flowers on the way,

It fills everything with colors and a sweet smell ...

Winds, goddess, run before you; with your approach

The clouds are leaving from heaven, the earth is a masterful lush

Laying a flower carpet, smiling sea ​​waves,

And the azure sky shines with spilled light.

The allegorical nature of "Spring" causes numerous discussions regarding the interpretation of the picture.

In 1483, the Florentine merchant Antonio Pucci commissioned four elongated paintings with scenes from Botticelli. love story from Boccaccio's Decameron on Nastagio degli Onesti.

"History of Nastagio degli Onesti" from Boccaccio's Decameron. 2nd episode

Novel about Nastagio degli Onesti, a banquet in a pine forest.

Novel about Nastagio degli Onesti

The painting “Venus and Mars” (circa 1485) is dedicated to the theme of love.

"Venus and Mars"

Also, around 1485, Botticelli creates the famous painting "The Birth of Venus". “... What distinguishes the work of Sandro Botticelli from the manner of his contemporaries - the masters of the Quattrocento, and, by the way, painters of all times and peoples? This is a special melodiousness of the line in each of his paintings, an extraordinary sense of rhythm, expressed in the finest nuances and in the beautiful harmony of his “Spring” and “The Birth of Venus”. The coloring of Botticelli is musical, the leitmotif of the work is always clear in it. Few people in the world of painting have such a sound of plastic line, movement and an excited, deeply lyrical, far from mythological or other plot schemes. The artist himself is the director and composer of his creations. He does not use stilted canons, which is why his paintings excite the modern viewer so much with their poetry and the primacy of worldview.

"Birth of Venus"

In 1480-1490, Botticelli performed a series of pen illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy. “Sandro drew exceptionally well and so much that long after his death, every artist tried to get his drawings”

Dante Alighieri

Religious paintings from the 1480s

"Adoration of the Magi" (1478-1482), "Madonna and Child Enthroned" (Bardi altarpiece) (1484), "Annunciation" (1485) - religious works Botticelli of this time are the highest creative achievements of the painter.

"Madonna and Child Enthroned"

Adoration of the Magi

Annunciation

In the early 1480s, Botticelli created the Madonna Magnificat (1481-1485), a painting that became famous during the artist's lifetime, as evidenced by numerous copies. It is one of Botticelli's tondos. Such circle-shaped paintings were very popular in 15th-century Florence. The background of the painting is a landscape, as in Madonna with a Book (1480-1481), Madonna and Child with Six Angels and John the Baptist (circa 1485), Madonna and Child with Five Angels (1485-1490).

"Madonna Magnificat"

Madonna and Child with Six Angels and John the Baptist

In 1483, together with Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Filippino Lippi, he painted frescoes in the villa of Lorenzo the Magnificent near Volterra.

Around 1487, Botticelli wrote "Madonna with a Pomegranate". The Madonna is holding a pomegranate in her hand, which is christian symbol(In the hand of Raphael's Sistine Madonna, initially, instead of a book, there was also a pomegranate).

Later works (1490-1497)

In 1490, the Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola appeared in Florence, in whose sermons there was a call for repentance and renunciation of a sinful life. Botticelli was fascinated by these sermons, and even, according to legend, watched how his paintings were burned at the stake of vanity. Since then, Botticelli's style has changed dramatically, it becomes ascetic, the range of colors is now restrained, with a predominance of dark tones.

The artist's new approach to creating works is clearly visible in The Coronation of Mary (1488-1490), Lamentation of Christ (1490) and a number of images of the Madonna and Child. The portraits created by the artist at this time, for example, the portrait of Dante (circa 1495), are devoid of landscape or interior backgrounds.

The change in style is especially noticeable when comparing “Judith leaving the tent of Holofernes” (1485-1490) with a picture created about twenty-five years earlier on the same subject.

In 1491, Botticelli participated in the work of the commission to consider the projects for the facade of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.

The only late painting on a secular theme was The Calumny of Apelles (circa 1495).

"Judith Leaving Holofernes' Tent"

"Slander"

King-judge Midas as an allegory of Stupidity, surrounded by similar Suspicion and Ignorance

Slander, hair-pulling Innocence, accompanied by her companions - Cunning and Lies

Truth, which personifies purity with its nakedness, and Repentance, which, with its inquiring and malicious look, is rather Envy

Last works (1498-1510)

In 1498, Savonarola was captured, accused of heresy, and sentenced to death. These events deeply shocked Botticelli.

In 1500, he creates The Mystical Nativity, the only work signed and dated by him, where there is an inscription made in Greek: “I, Alessandro, painted this picture at the end of 1500 in the turmoil of Italy, half the time after the time when [said in the chapter] the eleventh of John, about the second mountain of the Apocalypse, will be fulfilled, at the time when the devil was released for three and a half years. Then he was shackled according to the twelfth, and we will see him [trampled on the ground] as in this picture.

Among the last few works of the artist of this period are scenes from the stories of the Roman women Virginia and Lucretia, as well as scenes from the life of St. Zenobius.

"Mystical Christmas"

Baptism of St. Zenobius and his appointment to the post of bishop

Scenes from the life of Saint Zenobius

Scenes from the life of Saint Zenobius

Three Miracles of Saint Zenobius

Scenes from the life of Saint Zenobius

In 1504, the painter participates in the work of the commission of artists, which was supposed to choose a place to install Michelangelo's "David".

Botticelli “retired from work and eventually grew old and impoverished so much that if he had not been remembered when he was still alive, Lorenzo dei Medici, for whom, not to mention many other things, he worked a lot in a small hospital in Volterra, and behind him his friends, and many wealthy people, admirers of his talent, he could have died of hunger.” May 17, 1510, at the 66th year of his life, Sandro Botticelli passed away. The painter was buried in the cemetery of the Church of All Saints in Florence.

Sandro Botticelli was born in 1445 in Florence. In a family of four sons, he was the youngest. By profession, Mariano was a tanner. He lived with his family in the Santa Maria Novella quarter on Via Nuova. In the house that belonged to Rucellai, he rented an apartment. Being the owner of a workshop near the bridge of Santa Trinita in Oltrarno, he was not provided for, since the business was not particularly profitable. In his dreams, the elderly Filipepi wanted to identify his sons as soon as possible so that he could leave such a difficult craft.

Sandro Botticelli is the pseudonym of the artist, his real name Alessandro Filipepi. And for friends, he was just Sandro. And today there is no unequivocal answer to the question of the origin of the nickname " Botticelli". There is a version that this is education from the nickname given to the older brother for raising the youngest of the sons, in order to somehow help his father. Or perhaps the nickname came into being in connection with the craft of his second brother Antonio.

Be that as it may, jewelry art undoubtedly affected the formation of Botticelli in his youth, because it was in this area that his brother Antonio moved him. Alessandro was sent by his father to the jeweler Botticelli. Being a capable and gifted student, he was restless.

Around 1464, Sandro decided to work in the workshop of Fra Filippo Lippi from the monastery of Carmine. At that time he was considered great painter. At the age of 20 (1467) Sandro left the workshop. He was completely absorbed in painting and imitated his teacher in everything, for which he fell in love with the young man and raised his painting skills to unprecedented heights.

Although the first works completely copied the style of Fra Filippo Lippi, they already showed an unusual atmosphere of spirituality, with the poetry of images.
In 1467, the teacher Sandro moved to Spoleto, where he was soon overtaken by death. Stretching for knowledge, Botticelli embarked on a search for a new source of artistic achievements.

Christmas / Botticelli

Christmas

He devoted some period to the workshop of Andrea Verrocchio, who was a versatile master, painter, sculptor And jeweler. He was at the head of a team of multi-talented emerging artists. Communication bore fruit, so the pictures appeared “ Madonna in the rose garden"(about 1470, Florence, Uffizi), as well as" Madonna and Child with two angels"(1468-1469), combining the lessons of Lippi and Verrocchio. Probably, these works were the first truly independent creations. Botticelli.

The period 1467-1470 was characterized by the famous image of Sandro, called " Altar of Sant'Ambrogio". In the cadastre of 1469, Mariano reported that Sandro was working at home, from which it can be concluded that by that time Botticelli was already a completely independent artist. As for the fate of the other sons, the eldest of them, being a broker, was a financial intermediary in the government. His nickname is " Botticella”, which in translation “barrel” migrated to his famous brother. The Filipepi family had impressive incomes (they were owners of houses, owners of land, shops and vineyards) and occupied a high position in society.

So in 1970 Botticelli opened the doors of his own workshop. And approximately between July 18 and August 8, 1470, he drew a line to the work, which brought public recognition and popularity to the master. The picture that was depicted allegory of Strength, was addressed to the Commercial Court. This institution was one of the most important and dealt with offenses of an economic nature.

The year 1472 was characterized by Sandro's entry into the association of artists - the Guild of St. paintings or frescoes, but also inlays, engravings, mosaics, models for "standards and other fabrics", stained-glass windows, book illustrations. In the first year, being a member of the association of artists Botticelli was an official student of Filippino Lippi, who was the son former teacher craftsman.

Sandro's orders mostly came from Florence. So one of the most magnificent of his works is the painting “ Saint Sebastian”was performed for the oldest church in the city of Santa Maria Maggiore. And on January 20, 1474 (on the feast of St. Sebastian Maggiore), the work, being the first confirmed work of Sandro, was festively placed on one of the columns of the Church of Santa Maria, which was firmly entrenched in the artistic panorama of Florence.

Also in 1474, after completing work on this work, the master was invited to work in another city. The request of the Pisans was to paint frescoes in the Camposanto painting cycle. It was during this period of time that close contact reigned between Botticelli and the recognized rulers of Florence - members of the Medici family. This is confirmed by the work (which has become a reflection of the artist’s communication with his family). Medici) « Adoration of the Magi ”, ordered between 1475 and 1478 by Gaspare (or Giovanni) da Zanobi Lami (a banker close to the Medici family).

Adoration of the Magi / Botticelli

Adoration of the Magi

Special interest this picture causes a number of researchers, because it is on it that you can find an image of a whole layer of important historical persons. However, it is worth paying attention to the remarkable compositional construction, which indicates the level of skill of the artist at that time.

The peak of the culmination of the development of realism in the image with an increase in psychological expressiveness falls on the interval between 1475 and 1482. The most famous paintings of Sandro (" Primavera " And " Birth of Venus ”), which were commissioned by the Medici family, became the embodiment of the cultural atmosphere characteristic of the medical circle. Historians unanimously gave the dates of these works - 1477-1478. In this case, the existence of Venus does not mean the experience of love in the concept of paganism, but symbolizes the humanistic ideal of spiritual love. When the soul, consciously or semi-consciously, rushes up and purifies everything in its movement.

Thus, the roles of Spring are shaded by a cosmological-spiritual character. Zephyr, fertilizing, unites with Flora, thereby giving rise to Primavera, Spring as a symbol of the animating forces of Nature. Blindfolded Cupid is above Venus (the center of the composition), identified with Humanitas (the constellation of the spiritual properties of man, personifying the three Graces), Mercury, looking up, disperses the clouds with his caduceus.
Botticelli interprets the myth, which carries a special atmosphere of expressiveness: the scenes of the idyll are placed against the background of orange trees, which are densely intertwined with branches, subject to a single harmonic rhythm. This is achieved with the help of linear outlines of figures, draperies, dance movements, which gradually subside in the contemplative gesture of Mercury. The figures are associated with the tapestry due to the clear manner of depiction against the background of deaf foliage.

The characteristic content of Sandro's works is the idea of ​​Humanitas, which means the interweaving of the spiritual properties of a person, in most cases it is embodied in the image of Venus or sometimes Pallas-Minerva. Or otherwise interpreted - this idea of ​​​​impeccable beauty, which carries the intellectual and spiritual potential of a person, external beauty as a reflection inner beauty, as well as a grain of universal harmony, a microcosm in the macrocosm.

Judging by the number of students and assistants who were registered in the cadastre, in 1480 the workshop Botticelli has been widely recognized. Also this year was marked by the writing of Sandro "Saint Augustine", located on the altar barrier in the Church of All Saints (Ognisanti). This order was made for Vespucci - a respected family of the city, which was close to the Medici.

Apocryphal texts were widely circulated, leading to the veneration of both saints in the 15th century. Sandro Botticelli worked tirelessly to be able to become the best among all the painters of that time, focusing on Domenico Ghirlandaio, who completed the image of St. Jerome from a different side. This work was carried out flawlessly, the face of the saint expressed the depth, subtlety and sharpness of thought, so characteristic of the sages.

Lorenzo Medici in political views, he sought to reconcile with the pope and contributed to an increase cultural ties Florence. Thus Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Cosimo Rosselli And Domenico Ghirlandaio- On October 27, 1480, they were sent to Rome to paint the walls of the new "great chapel" of the Vatican, which was immediately erected by order of Pope Sixtus IV (which is why it got its name Sistine). By order of Sixtus IV Botticelli was appointed chief of the work, currently the master's frescoes are considered more valuable than the works of other artists. The finished frescoes were installed in the autumn of 1482 in the place allotted for them in the chapel, not far from the opening works of Signorelli and Bartolomeo della Gatta. Botticelli and the rest of the masters returned to Florence, where he soon experienced the loss of his father.

During the period of his greatest creative activity, Sandro had a close relationship with the court Lorenzo Medici, which served as the writing of most of the most famous works of the master in the 70-80s by order of members of this family. The inspiration of the rest of the works was drawn from the poems of Poliziano or was influenced by literary disputes arising from humanist scholars, as well as friends of Lorenzo the Magnificent.

If we talk about the portraits made by Botticelli, then, undoubtedly, they occupy a not so high level in the gallery of images that are included in his compositions. Probably, this type of work was given to the artist less because of his constant need for movement and perfection of rhythm, which a chest-length portrait (typical of the 15th century) could not give.
Of course, one cannot ignore the sublime character of Sandro's realism. At least, this can be traced potentially in his male portraits. In them, one can especially note as a masterpiece only " Lorenzano"- a plexus of extraordinary vitality and a portrait of a young man, expressing an outstanding expression of the interpretation of the formulation of love.

Slander / Botticelli

Slander

When Botticelli returned to Rome, he wrote a series of large works on the theme of religion, containing several tondos, in which the sensitivity of the artist's emotions could be fully expressed in the order of forms on the plane. The purpose of the tondo was a decorative function - to decorate the apartments of the Florentine nobility or as collectible works of art.

Tondo " Adoration of the Magi”, which was known to us first, has a date of the seventies. Presumably, it acted as a table top in Pucci's house. The starting point is this albeit young work, in which distorted perspectives are justified with a horizontal arrangement of the picture. In it, Botticelli shows a "sophistical", disturbing and sober approach.

Examples are works: Madonna Magnificat"(1485) and" Madonna with pomegranate"(1487). The first work, with the help of a special bend of curved lines, as well as a collective circular rhythm, creates the illusion of a picture created on a convex surface. The second work, intended for the Courtroom of the Palazzo Signoria, is characterized by the use of a reverse technique, which forms the effect of a concave surface.

A different mood is created in the impressive work of Sandro “ Wedding of the Mother of God”, dated 1490. So, if the years 1484-1489 are marked by Botticelli's contentment with his works and himself, then " Wedding"carries a completely different message - the excitement of feelings, unexplored anxieties and hopes. The angels were handed over with great emotion, and the oath of St. Jerome is full of confidence and dignity.

At the same time, in this work one feels a rejection of perfection in proportions (perhaps because of this, the work was not so successful), the majestic tension increases, which is typical only for inner world heroes, there is an increase in the sharpness of the color, which becomes more and more independent.
Botticelli strove for the knowledge of a greater degree of drama, which is typical for such works of the author as " abandoned". The plot of this work was, no doubt, rooted in the Bible - Tamar, who was expelled by Ammon. But this one historical fact transformed into an artistic embodiment becomes sufficient to acquire an eternal status: here are the fragile feelings of a woman, and sympathy for her loneliness, and even a dense barrier as a closed gate, as well as a dense wall that symbolizes the walls of a medieval castle.

Spring / Botticelli

Spring

In 1493, Florence is stunned by the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent. And in the Botticelli family, even more significant events important events- Brother Giovanni dies, who is buried next to his father in the cemetery. Simone (another brother) arrives from Naples, together with whom the master buys a "master's house" in San Sepolcro a Bellosguardo.

Sandro's latest works breathe an intensification of the religious moral disposition of the spirit. Botticelli always took religion and morality seriously, this was evident in the transformation of Lippi's uncomplicated and traditional melody into mystical contemplation " Madonnas of the Eucharist».

There is no painting more poetic than the painting of Sandro Botticelli (Botticelli, Sandro). The artist was recognized for the subtlety and expressiveness of his style. The brightly individual style of the artist is characterized by the musicality of light, quivering lines, the transparency of cold, refined colors, the animation of the landscape, and the whimsical play of linear rhythms. He always sought to infuse the soul into new pictorial forms.

Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi was born on March 1, 1445 to 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 income statements were made for taxation, which, in accordance with the decree of the Republic of 1427, the head of each Florentine family was obliged to do. 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 name-nickname Botticelli ("barrel") from his older brother. The father wanted the youngest son to follow in the footsteps of Antonio, who had been working as a goldsmith since at least 1457, which would mark the beginning of a small but reliable family business.

According to Vasari, there was such a close relationship between jewelers and painters at that time that to enter the workshop of one meant to get direct access to the craft of others, and Sandro, who had become fairly adept at drawing - the art necessary for accurate and confident "blackening", soon became interested in painting and decided to devote himself to it, while not forgetting the most valuable lessons of jewelry art, in particular, clarity in contour drawing. Around 1464, Sandro entered the workshop of Fra Filippo Lippi from the monastery of Carmine, the most excellent painter of that time, which he left in 1467 at the age of twenty-two.

Early period of creativity

Filippo Lippi's style had a huge influence on Botticelli, manifested mainly in certain types of faces, ornamental details and color. In his works of the late 1460s, the fragile, planar 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 a characteristic feature of his style. These changes are shown in full force in the earliest documented painting for the Merchant Court, Allegory of Strength. (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 early works of the master (c. 1470), illustrate another important aspect of Botticelli's painting: 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 an already begun change in color, which becomes brighter and more saturated, in contrast to the pale palette of Filippo Lippi, which prevails 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 was working at home. By the time of his father's death, the Filipepis owned considerable property. He died in October 1469, and the very next year Sandro opened his own workshop.

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

Rise of the Master

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

Among the works of Botticelli, only a few have reliable dates; many of his paintings have been dated based on stylistic analysis. Some of the most famous works date back to the 1470s: the painting of St. Sebastian (1473), the earliest depiction of a naked body in the work of the master; 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 from 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 set forth in Leon Battista Alberti's first outstanding theoretical treatise on Renaissance painting (On Painting, 1435-1436) and experimented with perspective. By the end of the 1470s, the stylistic fluctuations and direct borrowings from other artists inherent in his early works disappeared in the works of Botticelli. By this time, he already confidently mastered a completely individual style: the figures of the characters acquire a strong structure, and their contours surprisingly 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, Ognisanti Church), written in 1480 as a paired composition to the fresco of Ghirlandaio St. Jerome. Items around St. Augustine, - a music stand, books, scientific instruments - demonstrate Botticelli's skill in the still life genre: they are depicted with accuracy and clarity, revealing the artist's ability to grasp the essence of form, but at the same time they are not striking and do not distract from the main thing. Perhaps this interest in still life is associated with the influence of Netherlandish painting, which was admired by the Florentines of the 15th century. Of course, Netherlandish art influenced Botticelli's interpretation of the landscape. Leonardo da Vinci wrote that "our Botticelli" showed little interest in the landscape: "... he says that this is an empty exercise, because it is enough just to throw a sponge soaked in colors on the wall, and it will leave a spot in which one can discern a beautiful landscape." Botticelli generally contented himself with using conventional motifs for the backgrounds of his paintings, varying them by incorporating Netherlandish painting motifs such as Gothic churches, castles and walls to achieve a romantic-painterly effect.

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

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 rebuilt Sistine Chapel. He completed three of these frescoes: Scenes from the life of Moses, Healing of a leper and the temptation of Christ, and Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Abiron. In all three frescoes, the problem of presenting a complex theological program in clear, light and lively dramatic scenes is masterfully solved; while making full use of compositional effects.

After returning to Florence, perhaps in late 1481 or early 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), which are among the most famous works of the Renaissance and are true 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 of ancient art, a good knowledge of classical sculpture or sketches from it, which were widespread in the Renaissance. So, the graces from Spring go back to the classical group of three graces, and the pose of Venus from the Birth of Venus - to the Venus Pudica type (Venus bashful).

Some scholars see these paintings as a visual embodiment of the main ideas of the Florentine Neoplatonists, especially Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499). However, adherents of this hypothesis ignore the sensual principle in the three paintings depicting 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 the wedding. They are the most remarkable surviving works of this genre of painting, which celebrates marriage and the virtues associated with the birth of love in the soul of a pure and beautiful bride. The same ideas are the main ones in 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 experienced political and social upheavals - the expulsion of the Medici, the short-term rule of Savonarola with his accusatory religious and mystical sermons directed against papal prestige and the wealthy Florentine patriciate.

Torn apart by contradictions, the soul of Botticelli, who felt the beauty of the world discovered by the Renaissance, but was afraid of her sinfulness, could not stand it. Mystical notes begin to sound in his art, nervousness and drama appear. In the Annunciation of Cestello (1484-1490, Uffizi), the first signs of mannerisms 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 peculiarities 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 the works of Botticelli of the 1490s and early 1500s, even for the allegorical painting Slander (Uffizi), in which the master exalts his own work, associating it with the creation of Apelles, the greatest of ancient Greek painters.

In the painting "The Wedding of the Mother of God" (1490), a severe, intense obsession is visible in the faces of the angels, and in the swiftness of their postures and gestures - almost Bacchic self-forgetfulness.

After the death of the patron master Lorenzo Medici (1492) and the execution of Savonarola (1498), his character finally changed. The artist refused not only the interpretation of humanistic themes, but also the plastic language characteristic of him earlier. His latest paintings are distinguished by asceticism and conciseness of color scheme. His works are imbued with pessimism and hopelessness. One of the famous paintings of this time, "Abandoned" (1495-1500), depicts a weeping woman sitting on the steps of stone wall with tightly closed gates.

"The growing religious exaltation reaches tragic heights 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 pictorial manner seems to mature. Instead of fragile incorporeality - clear, generalized volumes, instead of exquisite combinations of faded shades - powerful colorful harmonies where, in contrast to the dark harsh tones, bright spots of cinnabar and carmine-red sound especially pathetic.

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

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

After 1500, the artist rarely picked up a brush. His only signature work of the early sixteenth century is The Mystical Nativity (1500, London, National Gallery). The attention of the master is now focused on the image of a wonderful vision, while the space performs an auxiliary function. This new trend in the ratio of figures and space, it is also characteristic of the illustrations for the Divine Comedy by Dante, made with a 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 left painting, his opinion continued to be reckoned with. In 1504, together with Giuliano da Sangallo, Cosimo Rosselli, Leonardo da Vinci and Filippino Lippi, Botticelli participated in the commission that was supposed to choose a place for the installation of David, just sculpted by the young Michelangelo. Filippino Lippi's decision 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 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

It is a work that is clearly related to Lipley's late work. It's a kind of reflection on what a feeling is. The heroine is depicted in the trembling light of dawn after accomplishing her feat. The breeze pulls at her dress, the excitement of the folds hides the movement of the body, it is not clear how she maintains her balance and maintains an even posture. The artist conveys the sadness that gripped the girl, that feeling of emptiness that replaced active action. Before us is not some particular feeling, but state of mind, the desire for something obscure, either in anticipation of the future, or out of regret for what has been done, the consciousness of the futility, futility of history and the melancholy dissolution of feelings in nature, which has no history, where everything happens without the help of the will.

"Saint Sebastian" 1473

The figure of the saint is devoid of stability, the artist lightens and lengthens its proportion, so that the beautiful form 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 exalt the hero, but only mourns the desecrated or defeated beauty, which the world does not understand, because its source is beyond worldly ideas, beyond 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, to 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 thinnest. chromatic combinations. If the meaning of conventional signs is no longer reduced to fixing and explaining reality, but is used to overcome and encrypt it, then what is the point of all the wealth of positive knowledge that was accumulated by Florentine painting in the first half of the century and which led to the grandiose theoretical constructions of Piero? And therefore, perspective as a way of depicting space loses its meaning, light as a physical reality does not make sense, it is not worthwhile to deal with the transfer of 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 it acquires special meaning the smooth development of the linear rhythms of the figures, contrasting with the parallelism of the trunks, just as subtle color transitions get a special sound in combination with the dark tree trunks that stand out sharply against the sky foyer.

Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel 1481- 1482

Botticelli's frescoes are written on biblical and gospel subjects, but are not interpreted in a "historical" plan. For example, scenes from the life of Moses are meant to be a type of the life of Christ. The themes of other paintings also have a figurative meaning: "The Cleansing of a Leper" and "The Temptation of Christ" contain a hint of Christ's fidelity to the law of Moses and, consequently, the continuity of the Old and New Testaments. "Punishment of Korea, Dathan and Aviron" also alludes to 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 unequivocally linked in the mind of the viewer with heretical teachings. In some things one can see a hint of contemporary faces and circumstances of the artist. But by linking together historically different events, Botticelli destroys the spatio-temporal unity and even the meaning of the narrative itself. Separate episodes, despite the time and space separating them, are soldered to each other by stormy upsurges of linear rhythm that occur after long pauses, and this rhythm, which has lost its melodic, smooth character, full of sudden outbursts and dissonances, is now entrusted with the role of a carrier of drama, which can no longer be expressed through the actions or gestures of individual characters.

"Birth of Venus" c.1485

This is by no means a pagan chant. female beauty: among the meanings embedded in it, the Christian idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe birth of the soul from water during baptism appears. The beauty that the artist seeks to glorify is, in any case, spiritual beauty, not physical beauty: the naked body of the goddess means naturalness and purity, the uselessness 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 in identical schematic signs. The shell is also symbolic. Against the background of a wide sea horizon, three rhythmic episodes develop with varying intensity - winds, Venus emerging from a shell, a maid accepting her with a veil decorated with flowers (a hint of the green cover of nature). Three times the rhythm is born, reaches its maximum tension and goes out.

"Annunciation"1489-1490

the artist brings into the scene, usually so idyllic, unaccustomed confusion, the Angel bursts into the room and swiftly falls to his knees, and behind him, like jets of air dissected during flight, his transparent, like glass, barely visible clothes rise up. His right hand with a large brush and long nervous fingers extended to Mary, and Maria, as if blind, as if in oblivion, stretches out her hand towards him. It seems as if internal currents, invisible but clearly tangible, flow from his hand to Mary's hand and make her whole body tremble and bend.

"Mystic Christmas" 1500 g

Perhaps the most ascetic, but at the same time the most pointed and polemical of all the works of his last period. And it accompanies it with an apocalyptic inscription, which predicts great troubles for the coming age. It depicts an unthinkable space in which the figures on foreground smaller than the more distant ones, because the "primitives" did so, the lines do not converge at one point, but zigzag across the landscape, as if in a Gothic miniature inhabited by angels.

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