Botticelli

Botticelli Birth of Venus, 1485 - Uffizi, Florence

Curiously enough, he never seems to have executed a portrait of his patron, Lorenzo de' Medici, save in the Adoration of the Magi, where he appears with many members of the Medici family, also with Poliziano and the painter himself; but he painted Giuliano and Lorenzo’s son, Piero, also the Bella Simonetta, Giuliano’s love.

His Pallas Taming a Centaur is said to have been painted to celebrate Lorenzo’s return from his chivalrous expedition to Naples.

Botticelli's most famous pictures, the Venus and the Primavera, were executed for the head of the younger branch of the family, Lorenzo di Piero Francesco, and adorned his villa of Castello, and for him also were designed the beautiful series of illustrations to Dante, testifying to the revival of interest in the great poet.

Between 1481-1482, Botticelli was called by Pope Sixtus IV. to Rome, where he worked on the paintings on the walls of the Sistine Chapel at Vatican. He worked together with Perugino, Rosselli and Ghirlandaio, their work being continued later by Michelangelo, who will decorate the ceiling.

Whether he is working on the classical, the allegorical or the Dantesque, he sees things in his own way.

No other among the Renaissance painters has Botticelli’s grace and charm, none his lightness of touch; no one can portray wind and floating draperies and the feeling of air and motion as he does, and above all, none can infuse into grace and beauty that touch of yearning and wistfulness.

Botticelli Primavera, 1482 - Uffizi, Florence

Later in his life, Botticelli was a follower of Fra Girolamo Savonarola, his works becoming more solemn, even mystic at times. In 1504, he was elected in the committee formed to choose where  Michelangelo's David should be placed. However, with the increasing success of Leonardo, Botticelli's linear style began to be considered obsolete. After four hundreds years of near-obscurity, Botticelli saw his own Renaissance in the 19th Century, when the Pre-Raphaelites rediscovered him. Poet, painter and Platonist, Botticelli stands out from the other Renaissance artists as the one who most completely mirrors the whole life of his time.