Sandro Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli is one of the most famous and important painters and draughtsmen of our art history. He is considered an important and formative representative of early Renaissance painting. In this connection it must be said that not much can be clearly proven about Sandro Botticelli’s life. The following information in his biography is based on various sources, but is in part only guesswork.

Biography

Sandro Botticelli, whose full name is actually “Allessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi”, was probably born in the italian city Florence on March 1, 1445 (the nickname “botticelli” comes from the Italian word “botticello”, meaning “little barrel”, and was given by his brother Giovanni).

Already during the period of Renaissance, Florence was an important cultural and commercial city, and therefore an important centre not only in Italy but worldwide. Moreover, the cultural city was strongly influenced by humanism during Sandro’s lifetime. Botticelli lived with his family in a working-class area called Ognissanti. His father was a tanner and was called Mariano di Vanni Filipepi. Some sources say that he was not a particularly exemplary pupil at school. However, his father sent him to a goldsmith where young Sandro could learn the art of goldsmithing.

A few years later Botticelli was apprenticed to the successful Florentine painter Filippo Lippi, who was to have a strong influence on his student’s future style of painting. Between the years 1464 and 1467, so for three years, Botticelli learned the art of painting in the workshop of his teacher Lippi in Prato. During this episode, the young artist began to work on a series of Madonna pictures. At the end of the sixties, Sandro Botticelli finally set up his own business. In the following time he worked for various rich families and communities. His most important clients include the Vatican and the famous Florentine Medici family. In 1470, Sandro was probably one of the most successful and respected artists in the city and later in the whole state. In the 1480s, Botticelli collaborated with other masters of painting of the time in the design of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. So he ran a good, successful painting workshop in his native Florence in the following years.

Sandro Botticelli died on 17 May 1510, aged about sixty-six in Florence. He was buried in his birthplace, Ognissanti.

Stylistic features

Botticelli has had many contacts with different artists in his life. Accordingly, his painting style was also influenced by these. Personalities such as Andrea Mantegna and Andrea del Verocchio left their mark on Botticelli’s painting style. Typically for Sandro Botticelli are first of all the realistic representations of the human body. The strong naturalness and corporeality as well as the intensive colouring gave his works a very special touch.

Artworks

The Florentine artist especially made devotional pictures and altarpieces. Many of his works are also depictions of Greek mythology. There are also some great portraits (for example the “Portrait of a Young Woman”).

The two most important and today by far most famous works are “The Allegory of Spring” (original: Primavera) and the “Birth of Venus”.

1. Primavera / The Allegory of Spring

The painting “Primavera” is considered one of the most famous works of art from the Renaissance period. It was made between 1482 and 1487, and is a tempera painting on wooden background. The work, which has a large format of 203 x 314 centimeters, is now located in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The picture shows eight people standing next to each other in a row. The central figure is the goddess of love Venus, whose constant companion Cupid is floating above her and is about to shoot someone with a love arrow.

On the left (seen from the observer) next to Venus are three graces wrapped in transparent garments, which perform a common dance in a circle. These should symbolize beauty and femininity. To the right of Venus is a woman (Flora) scattering rose petals on the meadow. At the right edge of the picture there are two more figures: A woman, which is held by a blue-skinned man. The man is supposed to represent the divine wind, the so-called Zephyr. This can be seen from the bloated cheeks. The woman is supposed to be the nymph of Chloris. On the left side of the picture is the god of merchants, Mercury. The background is filled with orange trees.

The birth of the Venus

The painting “The Birth of Venus” (original: “La nascita di Venere”) is Botticelli’s most famous and one of the most important in our art history. It dates from 1482 to 1486 and measures around 172 x 278 centimetres. The canvas painting, on which Tempera was painted, is located in the Florentine Uffizi, like the work “Primavera”.

The painting shows the moment Venus comes to earth. Venus, also “the foam-born”, was born from a shell. It is located in the center of the picture. She is naked, and covers her shame with her hands and her extremely long hair. To her right is a woman who is about to give Venus a robe to cover her nakedness.

On the left side, however, is the divine wind, Zephyr, together with his wife Chloris. He blows Venus to the shore.
The body of Venus is the result of precise anatomical studies. Thanks to the realism and naturalness of the painting, Botticelli’s Venus was a great and important work of our history.

Other famous and successful artworks by the italian artist Sandro Botticelli:

• “Adorazione dei Magi” (In english: “Adoration of the Magi”, painted in the year 1475, Galleria degli Uffizi of Florence, Italy)

• “Madonna col bambino” (In english: “Madonna and child”, painted in the year 1467, Musée du Petit Palais of Avignon, France)

• “Venere e Marte” (In english: “Venus and Mars”, painted in the year 1485, National Gallery of London, England)

• “Madonna del Magnificat” (In english: “Madonna of the Magnificat”, painted in the year 1481, Galleria degli Uffizi of Florence, Italy)