Sandro Botticelli

Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli ("little barrel") (March 1, 1445 – May 17, 1510) was an Italian painter. He went to the Florentine school during the Early Renaissance (Quattrocento).

Less than a hundred years later, Giorgio Vasari saw this movement as a "golden age". The patron of the movement was Lorenzo de' Medici. Giogio Vasari expressed this thought at the head of his Vita of Botticelli.

Young Botticelli


Botticelli was born in Florence in the working-class rione of Ognissanti. At first he did an apprenticeship to become a goldsmith. Following the boy's wishes, his doting father sent him to Fra Filippo Lippi. Lippi was working on frescoing the Convent of the Carmine. Lippi's synthesis of the new control of three-dimensional forms, tender expressiveness in face and gesture, and decorative details inherited from the late Gothic style were the strongest influences on Botticelli. Another influence were the Pollaiuolo brothers.They were doing a series of Virtues for the Tribunale or meeting hall of the Mercanzia. This hall was a cloth-merchants' confraternity.Botticelli contributed to this the Fortitude, dated 1470 in the Uffizi Gallery.

He was an apprentice too of Andrea del Verrocchio, where Leonardo da Vinci worked beside him, but he made his name in his local Church of Ognissanti, with a St. Augustine that successfully competed as a pendant with Domenico Ghirlandaio's Jerome on the other side "the head of the saint being expressive of profound thought and quick subtlety" (Vasari). In 1470 he opened his own independent studio.At what age did he start art?

Being discovered by the Medici
Lorenzo de' Medici was quick to employ his talent. Botticelli made consistent use of the circular tondo form and did many beautiful female nudes, according to Vasari. The Birth of Venus was at the Medici villa of Castello.

Influences of religion on Botticelli
Sandro was intensely religious. In later life, he was one of Savonarola's followers. Botticelli burned his own paintings on pagan themes in the notorious "Bonfire of the Vanities". Earlier, Botticelli had painted an Assumption of the Virgin for Matteo Palmieri in a chapel at San Pietro Maggiore. In this painting, it was rumored, both the patron who dictated the iconic scheme and the painter who painted it, were guilty of heresy. People did not say what kind of heresy it was. The ideas that could be seen as heresy seem to be gnostic in character:
 * "By the side door of San Piero Maggiore he did a panel for Matteo Palmieri. In it, a large number of figures represent the Assumption of Our Lady with zones of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, doctors, virgins, and the orders of angels, the whole from a design he received from Matteo. Matteo was a worthy and learned man. Botticelli executed this work with the greatest mastery and diligence. He introducing the portraits of Matteo and his wife on their knees. But although the great beauty of this work could find no other fault with it, people said that Matteo and Sandro were guilty of grave heresy. If this is true or not, I cannot say." (Vasari, about Botticelli)

This is a common misunderstanding. It is based on a mistake by Vasari. The painting referred to here, now in the National Gallery in London, is by the artist Botticini. Vasari confused their similar sounding names.

Other influences


Brock mobamaba is gonna be dead sweets.The Adoration of the Magi for Santa Maria Novella, ca1476, contains portraits of Cosimo de' Medici ("the finest of all that are now extant for its life and vigour"), his grandson Giuliano de' Medici, and Cosimo's son Giovanni, were effusively described by Vasari:


 * "The beauty of the heads in this scene is indescribable, their attitudes all different, some full-face, some in profile, some three-quarters, some bent down, and in various other ways, while the expressions of the attendants, both young and old, are greatly varied, displaying the artist's perfect mastery of his profession. Sandro further clearly shows the distinction between the suites of each of the kings. It is a marvellous work in colour, design and composition."

In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV summoned him and prominent Florentine and Umbrian artists who had been summoned to fresco the walls of the Sistine Chapel. The iconological program was the supremacy of the Papacy. Sandro's contribution was moderately successful. He returned to Florence, and "being of a sophistical turn of mind, he there wrote a commentary on a portion of Dante and illustrated the Inferno which he printed, spending much time over it, and this abstension from work led to serious disorders in his living." Thus Vasari characterized the first printed Dante (1481) with Botticelli's decorations; he could not imagine that the new art of printing might occupy an artist. As for the subject, when Fra Girolamo Savonarola began to preach hellfire and damnation, the susceptible Sandro Botticelli became one of his adherents, a piagnone left painting as a worldly vanity, burned much of his own early work, fell into poverty as a result, and would have starved but for the tender support of his former patrons. 
 * Madonna and Child with an Angel (1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, 87 x 60 cm, Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence
 * Madonna and Child with an Angel (1465-67) - Tempera on panel, 110 x 70 cm, Musée Fesch, Ajaccio
 * Madonna della Loggia (c. 1467) - Tempera on panel, 72 x 50 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * The Virgin and Child with Two Angels and the Young St. John the Baptist  (1465-1470) - Tempera on panel, 85 x 62 cm, Galleria dell Accademia, Florence
 * Adoration of the Magi (1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, 50 x 136 cm, National Gallery, London
 * Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1469) - Tempera on panel, 51 x 33,7 cm, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
 * Madonna in Glory with Seraphim (1469-1470) - Tempera on panel, 120 x 65 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Madonna of the Rosegarden (Madonna del Roseto) (1469-1470) - Tempera on panel, 124 x 65 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Madonna and Child and Two Angels (c. 1468-1470) - Tempera on panel, 100 x 71 cm, Museo di Capodimonte!Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
 * Portrait of a Smeralda Brandini (1470-1475) - Tempera on panel, 65,7 x 41 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
 * Fortitude (c. 1470) - Tempera on panel, 167 x 87 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Madonna and Child with Six Saints (Sant'Ambrogio Altarpiece) (c. 1470) - Tempera on panel, 170 x 194 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Madonna and Child with an Angel (c. 1470) - Tempera on wood, 84 x 65 cm, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
 * The Return of Judith to Bethulia (1470- 1472) - Oil on panel, 31 x 24 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * The Discovery of the Murder of Holofernes (1470-1472) - Tempera on wood, 31 x 25 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Adoration of the Magi (1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, diameter 131,5 cm, National Gallery, London
 * Portrait of a Young Woman (c. 1475) - Tempera on panel, 61 x 40 cm, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
 * Adoration of the Magi (1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, 111 x 134 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * St. Sebastian (1474) - Tempera on panel, 195 x 175 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
 * Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder (c. 1474-1475) - Tempera on panel, 57,5 x 44 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici (c. 1475) - Tempera on panel, 54 x 36 cm, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
 * Madonna and Child (c. 1475) - Tempera on panel, Art Institute, Chicago
 * Catherine of Alexandria, portrait of Caterina Sforza (c. 1475), Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg (De)
 * Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici (1476-1477) - Tempera on panel, 75,6 x 36 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
 * The Birt of Christ, (1476-1477) - Fresco, 200 x 300 cm, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
 * Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici (1478) - Panel, 54 x 36 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
 * Madonna and Child with Eight Angels (c. 1478) - Tempera on panel, diameter 135 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
 * ''St. Augustine, (1480) - Fresco, 152 x 112 cm, church of Ognissanti, Florence
 * Madonna of the Magnificat (Madonna del Magnificat) (1480-1483) - Tempera on panel, diameter 118 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Madonna of the Book (Madonna del Libro) (c. 1480-1483) - Tempera on panel, 58 x 39,5 cm, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan
 * Portrait of a Young Woman (1480-85) - Tempera on wood, 82 x 54 cm, Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt
 * Portrait of a Young Woman (after 1480) - Oil on panel, 47,5 x 35 cm, Staaliche Museen, Berlin
 * Annunciation (1481) - Fresco, 243 x 550 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * St. Sixtus II (1481) - Fresco, 210 x 80 cm, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
 * Adoration of the Magi (1481-1482) - Tempera on panel, 70 x 103 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
 * Pallas and the Centaur (1482-1483) - Tempera on canvas, 207 x 148 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Venus and Mars (1483) - Tempera on panel, 69 x 173 cm, National Gallery, London
 * Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1483) - Tempera on panel, 37,5 x 28,2 cm, National Gallery, London
 * Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1482-1483) - Tempera on panel, 41 x 31 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
 * The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti (c. 1483) - Tempera on panel, 83 x 138 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid
 * The Virgin and Child Enthroned (Bardi Altarpiece) (1484) - Tempera on panel, 185 x 180 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
 * The Birth of Venus (1484-1486) - Tempera on canvas, 184,5 x 285,5 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Annunciation (1485) - Tempera and gold on wood, 19,1 x 31,4 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
 * Madonna of the Pomegranate (Madonna della Melagrana) (c. 1487) - Tempera on panel, diameter 143,5 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * The Virgin and Child with Four Angels and Six Saints (Pala di San Barnaba) (c. 1487-1488) - Tempera on panel, 268 x 280 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Vision of St. Augustine (c. 1488) - Tempera on panel, 20 x 38 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Christ in the Sepulcre (c. 1488) - Tempera on panel, 21 x 41 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist (c. 1488) - Tempera on panel, 21 x 40,5 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Extraction of St. Ignatius' Heart (c. 1488) - Tempera on panel, 21 x 40,5 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Cestello Annunciation (1489-1490) - Tempera on panel, 150 x 156 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * The Virgin Adoring the Child (c. 1490)- Tempera on panel, diameter 59,6 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington
 * Lamentation over the Dead Christ with Saints (c. 1490) - Tempera on panel, 140 x 207 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
 * Portrait of a Man (c. 1490) - Tempera on canvas transferred from wood, 49 x 35 cm, Private collection
 * San Marco Altarpiece (1490-1492) - Tempera on panel, 378 x 258 cm (pala) and 21 x 269 cm (entire predella) Uffizi, Florence
 * St. Augustine in His Cell (1490-1494) - Tempera on panel, 41 x 27 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Madonna and Child and the Young St John the Baptist (1490-1495) - Tempera on canvas, 134 x 92 cm, Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence
 * Portrait of Lorenzo di Ser Piero Lorenzi (1490-1495) - Tempera on panel, 50 x 36,5 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
 * Holy Trinity (Pala delle Convertite) (1491-1493) - Tempera on panel, 215 x192 cm, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London
 * The Virgin and Child with Three Angels (Madonna del Padiglione) (c. 1493) - Tempera on panel, diameter 65 cm, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan
 * Calumny of Apelles (1494-1495) - Tempera on panel, 62 x 91 cm, Uffizi, Florence
 * Lamentation over the Dead Christ (c. 1495) - Tempera on panel, 107 x 71 cm, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan
 * Last Communion of St. Jerome (c. 1495) - Tempera on panel, 34,5 x 25,4 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
 * Portrait of Dante (c. 1495) - Tempera on canvas, 54,7 x 47,5 cm, Private collection
 * The Story of Virginia (1496-1504) - Tempera on panel, 85 x 165 cm, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
 * The Story of Lucretia (1496-1504) - Tempera on panel, 83,5 x 180 cm, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
 * Crucifixion (c. 1497) - Tempera on canvas, 73,5 x 50,8 cm, Fogg Art Museum, University of Harvard, Cambridge
 * Christ Crowned with Thorns (c. 1500) - Tempera on panel, 47,6 x 32,3 cm, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, Italy
 * Transfiguration, St Jerome, St Augustine (c. 1500) - Tempera on panel, 27,5 x 35,5 cm, Galleria Pallavicini, Rome
 * Judith Leaving the Tent of Holofernes (1495-1500) - Tempera on panel, 36,5 x 20 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
 * Agony in the Garden (c. 1500) - Tempera on panel, 53 x 35 cm'', Capilla Real, Granada
 * The Mystical Nativity (c. 1500) - Tempera on canvas, 108,5 x 75 cm, National Gallery, London
 * Baptism of St. Zenobius and His Appointment as Bishop (1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 66,5 x 149,5 cm, National Gallery, London
 * Three Miracles of St. Zenobius (1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 65 x 139,5 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
 * Three Miracles of St. Zenobius (1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 67 x 150,5 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
 * Last Miracle and the Death of St. Zenobius (1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 66 x 182 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden