Sandro Botticelli

By Victoria Charles

Botticelli is a painter not of facts, but of ideas, and his pictures are not so much a representation of certain objects as a pattern of forms. Nor is his colouring rich and lifelike; it is subordinated to form, and often rather a tinting than actual colour. In fact, he was interested in the abstract possibilities of his art rather than in the concrete. For example, his compositions, as has just been said, are a pattern of forms; his figures do not actually occupy well-defined places in a well-defined area of space; they do not attract us by their suggestion of bulk, but as shapes of form, suggesting rather a flat pattern of decoration. Accordingly, the lines which enclose the figures are chosen with the primary intention of being decorative.
It has been said that Botticelli, “though one of the worst anatomists, was one of the greatest draughtsmen of the Renaissance.” As an example of false anatomy we may notice the impossible way in which the Madonna’s head is attached to the neck, and other instances of faulty articulation and incorrect form of limbs may be found in Botticelli’s pictures. Yet he is recognised as one of the greatest draughtsmen: he gave to ‘line’ not only intrinsic beauty, but also significance. In mathematical language, he resolved the movement of the figure into its factors, its simplest forms of expression, and then combined these various forms into a pattern which, by its rhythmical and harmonious lines, produces an effect upon our imagination, corresponding to the sentiments of grave and tender poetry that filled the artist himself.
This power of making every line count in both significance and beauty distinguishes the great master- draughtsmen from the vast majority of artists who used line mainly as a necessary means of representing concrete objects.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Parkstone International
• Release date: Jul 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781781606209

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Introduction

Although Botticelli had a respected position among the Italian artists of his time, it was by no means outstanding. Some contemporaries born during his lifetime give quite detailed reports on his life and work, but without making him stand out especially among his fellow artists. The same applies to the literary sources of that time, as they have been mainly preserved to us in Albertini’s Memoriale or in the works of Francesco Billi or Gaddi’s Anonymus. Later on, Botticelli was increasingly forgotten. Even as the interest in older Italian art gradually grew again during the first decades of the nineteenth century, it was at first mainly in Perugino’s strict depictions of rapturous devotion and not Botticelli’s work. Even such an enthusiastic admirer of Renaissance art as Jacob Burckhardt still does not put Botticelli on the same level as his Florentine contemporaries in his Cicerone. His characterisation more often picks out one or the other of the artist’s weaknesses than his good qualities. Thus he writes:

Compared to what he wanted, Botticelli is in nothing thoroughly trained. He loved to express life and emotion in stormy movements and often painted in a clumsy haste. He strived for an ideal of beauty and came to a standstill at a type of head, which repeated itself again and again and was recognisable from far away, portrayed extremely charmingly here and there, but often enough in a rough and lifeless manner.

In his History of Italian Painting, Cavalcaselle also assesses the artist in a condescending manner, placing him behind a contemporary such as Domenico Ghirlandajo, and the harsh criticism of Morelli was even less likely to do Botticelli justice.

The first to pay Botticelli increased attention were the English painters. Since the Pre-Raphaelites – and among them mainly Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Burne Jones – showed enthusiasm for Botticelli’s creations, the appreciation for him has increased remarkably, and a number of popular monographs on him have been published, as well as some fundamental scientific works in various languages. Today his paintings belong to the most sought after works in the art market.

Not that much is known about Botticelli’s life. Although Vasari, in one of the most detailed sources, provides some anecdotes from the life of the artist, what he reports, according to other records since made known, has proven to be unreliable at times. This is why, his work should not be the basis for the criticism of Botticelli’s works, their interpretation and thus for any conclusions drawn on his personality. However, meticulous criticism of his art is often made rather difficult.

The reason for this being that due to their similarity, it is difficult to distinguish between which paintings are the work of his pupils and imitators and those which Botticelli himself painted. Also, because these works are often very imaginative creations, they are difficult to interpret. Thus, a lack of reliable information frequently leads to misinterpretations. However, it goes without saying that this artist should be analysed with care. In individual inscriptions and references in his pictures, especially in his drawings for Dante’s Divine Comedy, Botticelli himself shows us the way.

1. Portrait of a Young Man, c.1469. Tempera on panel, 51 x 33.7 cm. Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence.

2. The Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist, 1470. Tempera on wood, 91 x 67 cm. Musée du Louvre.

3. Madonna and Child with Two Angels, c.1470. Tempera on wood, 100 x 71 cm. National Capodimonte Museum and Gallery, Naples.

I.