Botticelli

Botticelli, SANDRO, originally Alessandro Filipepi, an eminent painter of the Tuscan school of the 15th century, was born at Florence in 1447. He was at first apprenticed to Botticello, a goldsmith, whose name he assumed; but as he showed evidence of his genius for painting, he was transferred to the school of Fra Lippo Lippi. In his youth and early manhood, Botticelli felt the spell of classical mythology, and produced many works on classical subjects—the finest his 'Birth of Venus,' in the Uffizi, and his 'Venus with the Graces,' in the Florence Academy. Two smaller examples of this style are in the National Gallery. He also executed numerous devotional pictures, marked by much imaginative refinement—the 'Coronation of the Virgin,' in the Florence Academy, and the large circular 'Madonna and Child,' in the Uffizi, being famous examples. The 'Assumption of the Virgin,' mentioned by Vasari, was painted, about 1470, for Matteo Palmieri, according to the scheme of the Heavenly Hierarchies adopted in his poem the Città di Vita. After Palmieri's death, the picture was condemned and concealed from view, as heretical in teaching the final restoration of the angels who had remained neutral in the strife with Lucifer. It was acquired for 4500 guineas at the Hamilton Palace sale, by the National Gallery, which also contains a lovely 'Nativity,' hinting at the same heresy, a work bearing a mystical inscription, and the date, apparently, of 1500, formerly the property of Mr Fuller-Maitland. Botticelli's colouring, often enriched by gold, is brilliant and fanciful, and the minutest care is shown in all the details of his compositions. His flowers, especially his roses, are painted with marvellous delicacy. In the countenances, whether of Madonnas and angels, or of Venuses and Graces, there is a fascinating expression of wistful melancholy. Among Botticelli's greatest works are his three frescoes, representing the 'Life of Moses,' the 'Destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram,' and the 'Temptation of Christ,' executed before 1484, in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. He was powerfully impressed by the teaching of Savonarola; and, according to Vasari, in his later years he 'occupied himself with commenting on a certain part of Dante, and made figures for the Inferno, and put them into print.' His great series of pen and silver-point drawings, illustrating the Divina Commedia, was acquired by the Berlin Museum at the Hamilton Palace sale. It has been admirably reproduced in prototype, with the addition of eight other drawings of the set which were discovered in the Vatican, and facsimiles of the engravings to the Dante of 1481, which are now believed to have been executed—perhaps by Baldini—under Botticelli's influence. In age Botticelli became lame, decrepit, and unfit for work, and he died in 1510, a pensioner of the Medici family. See the Monograph by H. Ullmann (Munich, 1894).