Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi was born in Florence between 1444 and 1446, though the exact day remains unknown. His father worked as a tanner before switching to gold-beating, a trade that brought the family into contact with artists. Sandro grew up on Borgo Ognissanti street, living there for his entire life alongside his brothers Giovanni and Simone. The nickname Botticelli means little barrel, derived from his brother Giovanni who had a round stature. He lived in a modest neighborhood inhabited by weavers and workmen, yet wealthy families like the Rucellai bankers resided nearby. By 1458, his family rented their house from the Rucellai clan. In 1460, his father ceased tanning and became a gold-beater with another son. This profession would have brought the family into regular contact with a range of artists.
Giorgio Vasari reported that Botticelli was initially trained as a goldsmith while still in school in February 1458. He proved an able pupil but easily grew restless during this early training. From around 1461 or 1462, he apprenticed under Fra Filippo Lippi, one of the leading Florentine painters and a favorite of the Medici. It was from Lippi that Botticelli learned how to create intimate compositions with beautiful, melancholic figures drawn with clear contours. For much of this period, Lippi worked in Prato frescoing the apse of what is now Prato Cathedral. Botticelli probably left Lippi's workshop by April 1467 when the master went to work in Spoleto. There has been speculation about whether he spent time in other workshops like those of the Pollaiuolo brothers or Andrea del Verrocchio. Both artists had a strong impact on his development, though his presence there cannot be definitively proven. Lippi died in 1469, and Botticelli must have had his own workshop by then.
In June 1469, Botticelli received a commission for a panel of Fortitude to accompany a set of all Seven Virtues commissioned earlier from Piero del Pollaiuolo. These panels formed part of the Sei della Mercanzia, a tribunal of six judges chosen by the main Guilds of Florence. His panel adopted the format and composition of Piero's but featured a more elegant figure and fanciful enrichments. In 1472, he took on his first apprentice, the young Filippino Lippi, son of his former master. Botticelli and Filippino often collaborated on works including many Madonna and Child paintings that are difficult to distinguish today. At the start of 1474, authorities in Pisa asked him to join frescoing the Camposanto, a large prestigious project mostly done by Benozzo Gozzoli. Various payments up to September are recorded, but no work survives. That year also saw the creation of Saint Sebastian in Berlin, painted for a pier in Santa Maria Maggiore. This work showed an almost nude body very carefully drawn and anatomically precise, reflecting close study of the human body.
In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV summoned Botticelli and other prominent Florentine artists to fresco the walls of the newly completed Sistine Chapel. This large project was to be the main decoration of the chapel, though most frescos remain greatly overshadowed by Michelangelo's work of the next century. The Florentine contribution is thought to be part of a peace deal between Lorenzo Medici and the papacy following hostilities from the Pazzi War. Botticelli contributed three of the original fourteen large scenes: the Temptations of Christ, Youth of Moses, and Punishment of the Sons of Corah. He also created several imagined portraits of popes in the level above where Michelangelo's ceiling now stands. Each painter brought a team of assistants as the space to be covered was considerable. Botticelli differed from colleagues by imposing a more insistent triptych-like composition dividing each scene into a main central group with two flanking groups at the sides. In each principal figure appears several times, seven in the case of the Youth of Moses. Of thirty invented portraits of earliest popes, ten were designed by Botticelli and five probably partly by him.
The masterpieces Primavera circa 1482 and The Birth of Venus circa 1485 are not a pair but inevitably discussed together. Both paintings reside in the Uffizi gallery in Florence among the most famous works in the world. As depictions of subjects from classical mythology on very large scale they were virtually unprecedented in Western art since classical antiquity. Together with smaller pieces like Venus and Mars and Pallas and the Centaur, they have been endlessly analyzed for themes including emulation of ancient painters and context of wedding celebrations. All show dominant and beautiful female figures in an idyllic world of feeling with a sexual element. Their beauty was characterized by Vasari as exemplifying grace and by John Ruskin as possessing linear rhythm. The pictures feature Botticelli's linear style at its most effective emphasized by soft continual contours and pastel colors. Though all carry differing degrees of complexity in meanings, they also have immediate visual appeal accounting for enormous popularity. Continuing scholarly attention mainly focuses on poetry and philosophy of contemporary Renaissance humanists.
According to Giorgio Vasari, Botticelli became a follower of deeply moralistic Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola who preached in Florence from 1490 until execution in 1498. Vasari claimed this influence caused him to give up painting and fall into considerable distress as he had no other source of income. He remained an obstinate member of the sect becoming one of the piagnoni or snivellers while abandoning his work. As an old man he found himself so poor that without assistance from Lorenzo de Medici and friends he would have almost died of hunger. The extent of Savonarola's influence remains uncertain though his brother Simone was more clearly a follower. The story that he destroyed secular paintings on the 1497 bonfire of vanities is not told by Vasari. Modern historians reject the assertion that he produced nothing after coming under Savonarola's influence. His only dated painting, The Mystical Nativity, comes from late 1500 eighteen months after Savonarola died. In late 1502 some four years after Savonarola's death Isabella d'Este wanted a painting done in Florence but preferred waiting for Perugino.
Botticelli returned to subjects from antiquity in the 1490s with smaller works containing more figures showing different scenes from each story including moments of dramatic action. These include Calumny of Apelles circa 1494-95 a recreation of lost allegory by ancient Greek painter Apelles which he may have intended for personal use. He also created pair of The Story of Virginia and The Story of Lucretia probably from around 1500. The Mystical Nativity appears dated to end of 1500 taking to extreme abandonment of consistent scale among figures. Holy Family much larger than other figures even those well in front them in picture space. This may be seen as partial reversion to Gothic conventions. Iconography unique with features including devils hiding in rock below scene and must be highly personal. Later work especially four panels with Scenes from Life of Saint Zenobius witnessed diminution of scale expressively distorted figures and non-naturalistic color reminiscent of Fra Angelico nearly century earlier. Botticelli continued paying dues to Compagnia di San Luca until at least October 1505 when aged sixty or more definitely into old age.
After his death Botticelli's reputation eclipsed longer and more thoroughly than any other major European artist. His paintings remained in churches and villas where created, Primavera and Birth of Venus staying in Grand Ducal Medici villa of Castello until 1815. Frescos in Sistine Chapel upstaged by Michelangelo's work. Vasari's Life relatively short and disapproving especially first edition of 1550. He clearly ill at ease with Sandro and did not know how fit him into evolutionary scheme running from Cimabue to Michelangelo. In 1621 a picture-buying agent bought painting said to be Botticelli out of historical interest though mistake understandable since Leonardo style seemed generation more advanced to Baroque judge. The Birth of Venus displayed in Uffizi from 1815 but little mentioned travelers accounts over next two decades. English collector William Young Ottley bought Mystical Nativity bringing it to London in 1799 yet no buyer found when tried selling in 1811. Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood incorporated elements of his work into own creations between 1900 and 1920 more books written on Botticelli than any other painter.
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Common questions
When was Sandro Botticelli born and where did he live?
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, known as Sandro Botticelli, was born in Florence between 1444 and 1446. He lived on Borgo Ognissanti street for his entire life alongside his brothers Giovanni and Simone.
Who trained Sandro Botticelli to become a painter?
Giorgio Vasari reported that Botticelli was initially trained as a goldsmith while still in school in February 1458. From around 1461 or 1462, he apprenticed under Fra Filippo Lippi, one of the leading Florentine painters and a favorite of the Medici.
What famous paintings did Sandro Botticelli create in the Sistine Chapel?
In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV summoned Sandro Botticelli to fresco the walls of the newly completed Sistine Chapel. He contributed three of the original fourteen large scenes: the Temptations of Christ, Youth of Moses, and Punishment of the Sons of Corah.
Why did Sandro Botticelli stop painting during the late 1490s?
According to Giorgio Vasari, Sandro Botticelli became a follower of deeply moralistic Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola who preached in Florence from 1490 until execution in 1498. This influence caused him to give up painting and fall into considerable distress as he had no other source of income.
When was Sandro Botticelli's only dated painting created?
His only dated painting, The Mystical Nativity, comes from late 1500 eighteen months after Savonarola died. Later work especially four panels with Scenes from Life of Saint Zenobius witnessed diminution of scale expressively distorted figures and non-naturalistic color reminiscent of Fra Angelico nearly century earlier.