Vasari's edition of the Lives contains the earliest description of Botticelli's Birth of Venus: " Because the villa at Castello was purchased by Lorenzo and Giovanni di Pierfrancesco de' Medici in , scholars have consistently assigned the two paintings to Medici patronage sometime between and Yet, while the association between the Medici and Primavera can be made fairly conclusively, Birth of Venus is not so easy to place.
Indeed, in Medici inventories of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Birth of Venus is conspicuous by its absence. Thus, despite the shared use of Venus as the central character, it appears unlikely that the two works were linked in their production or patronage.
Since interpretations of Birth of Venus have thus far been predicated on the assumed connections between the two works, it behooves us to re-examine the painting outside the specific context of Primavera.
There are various other reenactments , spanning from The New Yorker cover, a James Bond movie cult scene of Ursula Anders coming out of water from the movie Dr.
Apparently, this early Renaissance painting has utterly changed the way we perceive the female body in terms of glorifying its divine beauty, as well as sensuality and subtlety.
Therefore, it is not unusual that Botticelli's The Birth of Venus became one of the pillars of the Western art historical canon and is still widely celebrated even today.
The art of Sandro Botticelli remains the epitome of the Florentine accomplishment during the Quattrocento, under the golden age of the reign of Lorenzo di Medici. Painter of such classic Orphic allegories as "Primavera" c. The first monograph on Botticelli was published in , and between and , more books were written on him than on any other painter; today his name is synonymous with the aspirations and feats of Renaissance painting at its finest. Featured image: Sandro Botticelli - Birth of Venus, Tempera on canvas, Courtesy of Uffizi.
December 9, Balasz Takac. Sandro Botticelli - Birth of Venus, detail the face of Venus , Some historical reports claim Botticelli was one of these followers and threw a few of his own works on the fire.
But The Birth of Venus was spared the flames. Over centuries, coats of varnish meant to preserve the painting began to turn opaque, shielding some of Botticelli's details and colors from view.
But a careful restoration that concluded in gently stripped this layer away, revealing the soft and pearly colors the artist intended. The first of these works is believed to date back to the second or third century BCE. Some sources believe The Birth of Venus was modeled after the long lost Venus Anadyomene , a painting by ancient Greek artist Apelles that was once described by Roman author Pliny the Elder and known only through his written account.
Other theories posit that this particular scene was based on a Homeric hymn published in Florence by Demetrios Chalkokondyles that reads:. The gold-filleted Horae happily welcomed her and clothed her with heavenly raiment. But the more common interpretation is that its inspiration was a poem by Botticelli's friend Agnolo Poliziano.
His pieces finally won esteem in the 19th century, with The Birth of Venus becoming his most revered work. Her pose has been co-opted by various modern models. And as recently as , The Birth of Venus has been used as a tool to criticize modern beauty standards. Fortunately, his precocious talent was recognised and he was withdrawn from school and sent to work as an apprentice. It is thought that Botticelli first trained with Maso Finiguerra, a goldsmith, before entering the studio of the artist Fra Filippo Lippi.
He began his career painting frescoes for Florentine churches and cathedrals, and worked with the painter and engraver Antonio del Pollaiuolo. By , he had his own workshop. He also employed Filippino Lippi, his late teacher's son, as his apprentice, and broke convention by completing Filippino's version of 'The Adoration of the Kings' - it was far more usual for an apprentice to finish a painting by his master rather than the other way round.
Botticelli's apprenticeship with Fra Filippo gave him excellent contacts. His master had enjoyed the patronage of some of the leading families in Florence, such as the Medici. Botticelli in turn spent almost all his life working for the Medici family and their circle of friends, for whom he painted some of his most ambitious secular paintings such as 'Primavera' in the Uffizi, Florence. Botticelli's star was in the ascendant. Such was his reputation that, in , he was summoned by the Pope to Rome to help decorate the walls of the recently completed Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
He painted frescoes depicting scenes from the Life of Moses and the Temptations of Christ and was also responsible for a number of papal portraits. The nature of this task demonstrates how highly regarded he was around this time, and it was the only occasion he is known to have worked outside Florence.
Mythologies A year later, Botticelli returned to Florence, to continue with the most prolific stage of his career. The period from saw Botticelli at his most creative. This was the period during which he produced his famous mythological works, such as 'The Birth of Venus' in the Uffizi, Florence and 'Venus and Mars'.
In these he successfully combined a decorative use of line possibly owing much to his early training as a goldsmith with elements of the classical tradition, seen in the harmony of his composition and the supple contours of his figures.
Religion and Politics During the last 15 years of his life, Botticelli's work appeared to undergo a crisis of style and expression. The s was a turbulent decade - the Medici had been expelled from Florence and Italy's peace disrupted by invasion and plagues. Botticelli rejected the ornamental charm of his earlier works in favour of a more simplistic approach that seemed crude and heavy-handed by contrast.
These later paintings, with their deep moral and religious overtones, also suffered a comparison with the sophisticated aesthetic of artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael. According to Vasari in his book 'The Lives of the Artists', in his latter years Botticelli became a follower of the fanatical Dominican friar Savonarola, and the pious sentiment of his later works would seem to suggest some involvement in the religious and political upheavals in Florence at the time.
Final Years Vasari also suggests that, as his work fell out of favour, Botticelli became melancholic and depressed. He had never married, preferring the company of family and friends. Having always been known for his high spirits and quick wit, the image of Botticelli's final years as a rapid decline into poverty, isolation and mental anguish is a poignant one.
After his death, his name all but disappeared until the late 19th century, when a developing appreciation for Florentine arts and culture brought about a renewed interest in his work.
High Definition Photo of the painting www.
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