Sandro Botticelli

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, known as Sandro Botticelli (1445 — May 17, 1510), was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. He belonged to the Florentine School under the patronage of Lorenzo de’ Medici, a movement that Giorgio Vasari would characterize less than a hundred years later in his Vita of Botticelli as a “golden age”. Botticelli’s posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century; since then, his work has been seen to represent the linear grace of Early Renaissance painting. He was originally trained as a goldsmith by his brother, Antonio. He was later apprenticed to the painter Fra Filippo Lippi. By 1470, Botticelli was master of his own workshop in Florence. Chief among his patrons was the Medici family.Botticelli found himself a part of the glittering court of Lorenzo the Magnificent.

Analysis of some of his art works

Primavera

It is a tempera panel painting painted in 1482 and Since 1919 the painting has been part of the collection of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.His focus is on the foreground, with little concern for depth of field behind it. The setting is mere backdrop for the action in the foreground. Figures are modeled gracefully, with an elegant beauty .Inspired by Renaissance neo-Platonic thought, the painting is deeply symbolic. The theme is Spring, with figures of Venus, Cupid, Zephyrus, Mercury, Chloris, and the Three graces adorning it .Pagan themes are depicted in a painting for a Christian home. Unfortunately the message is obscure. Also it forms a contrast of darker background and brighter figures and follows the rule of odds.

The Birth of Venus

It is a tempera panel painting painted in 1486 and the painting is on display at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Botticelli’s art was never fully committed to naturalism; in comparison to his contemporary Domenico Ghirlandaio, Botticelli seldom gave weight and volume to his figures and rarely used a deep perspectival space. Venus’ body is anatomically improbable, with elongated neck and torso. Her pose is impossible: although she stands in a classical counterpose stance, her weight is shifted too far over the left leg for the pose to be held. Moreover, her positioning on the edge of the scallop shell (which cannot be identified as real), would certainly cause it to tip over. The bodies and poses of the winds to the left are even harder to figure out. The background is summary, and the figures cast no shadows. It is clear that this is a fantasy image. It follows the rule of odds and Golden ratio can be seen.

Calumny of Apelles

It is a tempera painting in approximately 1494 and is on display in the Uffizi in Florence.. Botticelli reproduced this quite closely, down to the donkey ears of the seated man, into which the women that flank him speak. A richly gowned Slander (or Calumny), with her hair being dressed by her attendants, is being led by her slender, robed companion. The man she is dragging, nearly nude and with his ankles crossed as if to be crucified, raises his hands in prayer. The woman behind him turns her head to regard the stately pale nude pointing to the heavens.Without description of the setting, Botticelli has presented a throne room elaborately decorated with sculptures and reliefs of Classical heroes and battle scenes. The painting is overall balanced and, follows the rule of odds and the rule of Thirds.

Mars and Venus

It is a tempera painting in 1983. In the painting Venus watches Mars sleep while two infant satyrs play, carrying his helmet and lance as another rests inside his breastplate under his arm. A fourth blows a small conch shell in his ear in an effort to wake him. It is a product of early Renaissance Neo — platonist thinking. The scene is set in a haunted forest, and the sense of perspective and horizon extremely tight and compact. The sea from which Venus emerged can be seen in the distant background. In the foreground, a swarm of wasps hovers around Mars’ head, possibly as a symbol that love is often accompanied by pain.Also Golden Ratio can be seen.

Cestello Annunciation

It is a tempera painting painted in 1489 and displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art[5] and a 1495–1500 version now housed in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. It was created for the funeral chapel in the church of Cestello in Florence. Bendedetto Guardi commissioned this work for the funeral chapel named after himself as part of the church renewal.The painting is telling the story of the angel Gabriel finding Mary and telling her that she will be the Virgin Mother of the Christ Child. Gabriel has clearly interrupted Mary reading form the book on the stand on the edge of the picture.There is a planned lack of architectural detail in the painting. This corresponds to the simplicity of the environment for the Cestello Church where the painting is to be displayed. the long vertical lines of the open door leading to the landscape and the lines of the floor tiles also emphasise the coldness of the straight lines; effects all used to form the background. A noteworthy feature in the Annunciation is the way that Botticelli used the space between Gabriel and Mary. The area between them on the floor and the area between their fingers that does not allow them to touch, is significant. That space is showing Gabriel and Mary not touching just as Mary conceived the Christ Child without any physical touch.