Sandro Botticelli - Biography

Painter of the early Renaissance, born in Florence, NC Italy. He trained, probably, under Filippo Lippi (c.1458), and from c.1470 worked from his own studio. He is best known for his treatments of mythological subjects, notably ‘Primavera’ (Spring) and ‘Birth of Venus’, both in the Uffizi. His work includes illustrations for Dante's Divina commedia, which he executed in pen and ink and silverpoint. Among his numerous devotional pictures are the ‘Coronation of the Virgin’ (Florence Academy) and the large circular ‘Madonna and Child’ (Uffizi). He also painted frescoes for the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, and in his later years was much influenced by the teaching of Savonarola, producing works of a more deeply religious character.

Biography

Apprenticeships

Born in Florence in the working-class rione of Ognissanti, Botticelli was first apprenticed to a goldsmith, then, following the boy's wishes, his doting father sent him to Fra Filippo Lippi, who was at work frescoing the Convent of the Carmine.

The Medici

Botticelli came of age in the time of Cosimo de' Medici.

By the side door of San Piero Maggiore he did a panel for Matteo Palmieri, with a large number of figures representing the Assumption of Our Lady with zones of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, doctors, virgins, and the orders of angels, the whole from a design given to him by Matteo, who was a worthy and educated man. Other works The Adoration of the Magi for Santa Maria Novella, c. 1476, contains portraits of Cosimo de' Medici ("the finest of all that are now extant for its life and vigour"), his grandson Giuliano de' Medici, and Cosimo's son Giovanni, were effusively described by Vasari: "The beauty of the heads in this scene is indescribable, their attitudes all different, some full-face, some in profile, some three-quarters, some bent down, and in various other ways, while the expressions of the attendants, both young and old, are greatly varied, displaying the artist's perfect mastery of his profession. There is an episode of The Simpsons where Homer daydreams about an attractive new female co-worker by picturing her as the goddess Venus in Botticelli's painting The Birth of Venus. Anthology of works Madonna and Child with an Angel (1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, 87 x 60 cm, Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence Madonna and Child with an Angel (1465-67) - Tempera on panel, 110 x 70 cm, Musée Fesch, Ajaccio Madonna della Loggia (c. 1467) - Tempera on panel, 72 x 50 cm, Uffizi, Florence The Virgin and Child with Two Angels and the Young St. John the Baptist (1465-1470) - Tempera on panel, 85 x 62 cm, Galleria dell Accademia, Florence The Virgin and Child, St. John and Angels (2nd half of the 15th c.) - National Museum in Warsaw, Poland Adoration of the Magi (1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, 50 x 136 cm, National Gallery, London Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1469) - Tempera on panel, 51 x 33,7 cm, Palazzo Pitti, Florence Madonna in Glory with Seraphim (1469-1470) - Tempera on panel, 120 x 65 cm, Uffizi, Florence Madonna of the Rosegarden (Madonna del Roseto) (1469-1470) - Tempera on panel, 124 x 65 cm, Uffizi, Florence Madonna and Child and Two Angels (c. 1468-1470) - Tempera on panel, 100 x 71 cm, Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples Portrait of a Esmeralda Brandini (1470-1475) - Tempera on panel, 65,7 x 41 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, London Fortitude (c. 1470) - Tempera on panel, 167 x 87 cm, Uffizi, Florence Madonna and Child with Six Saints (Sant'Ambrogio Altarpiece) (c. 1470) - Tempera on panel, 170 x 194 cm, Uffizi, Florence Madonna and Child with an Angel (c. 1470) - Tempera on wood, 84 x 65 cm, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston The Return of Judith to Bethulia (1470- 1472) - Oil on panel, 31 x 24 cm, Uffizi, Florence The Discovery of the Murder of Holofernes (1470-1472) - Tempera on wood, 31 x 25 cm, Uffizi, Florence Adoration of the Magi (1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, diameter 131,5 cm, National Gallery, London Portrait of a Young Woman (c. 1475) - Tempera on panel, 61 x 40 cm, Palazzo Pitti, Florence Adoration of the Magi (1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, 111 x 134 cm, Uffizi, Florence St. Sebastian (1474) - Tempera on panel, 195 x 175 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder (c. 1474-1475) - Tempera on panel, 57,5 x 44 cm, Uffizi, Florence Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici (c. 1475) - Tempera on panel, 54 x 36 cm, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo Madonna and Child (c. 1475) - Tempera on panel, Art Institute, Chicago Catherine of Alexandria, portrait of Caterina Sforza (c. 1475) - Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici (1476-1477) - Tempera on panel, 75,6 x 36 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington The Birt of Christ, (1476-1477) - Fresco, 200 x 300 cm, Santa Maria Novella, Florence Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici (1478) - Panel, 54 x 36 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin Madonna and Child with Eight Angels (c. 1478) - Tempera on panel, diameter 135 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin St. Augustine (1480) - Fresco, 152 x 112 cm, church of Ognissanti, Florence Madonna of the Magnificat (Madonna del Magnificat) (1480-1483) - Tempera on panel, diameter 118 cm, Uffizi, Florence Madonna of the Book (Madonna del Libro) (c. 1480-1483) - Tempera on panel, 58 x 39,5 cm, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan Portrait of a Young Woman (1480-85) - Tempera on wood, 82 x 54 cm, Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt Portrait of a Young Woman (after 1480) - Oil on panel, 47,5 x 35 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin Annunciation (1481) - Fresco, 243 x 550 cm, Uffizi, Florence St. Sixtus II (1481) - Fresco, 210 x 80 cm, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City Adoration of the Magi (1481-1482) - Tempera on panel, 70 x 103 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington Pallas and the Centaur (1482-1483) - Tempera on canvas, 207 x 148 cm, Uffizi, Florence Venus and Mars (1483) - Tempera on panel, 69 x 173 cm, National Gallery, London Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1483) - Tempera on panel, 37,5 x 28,2 cm, National Gallery, London Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1482-1483) - Tempera on panel, 41 x 31 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti (c. 1483) - Tempera on panel, 83 x 138 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid The Virgin and Child Enthroned (Bardi Altarpiece) (1484) - Tempera on panel, 185 x 180 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin The Birth of Venus (1484-1486) - Tempera on canvas, 184,5 x 285,5 cm, Uffizi, Florence Annunciation (1485) - Tempera and gold on wood, 19,1 x 31,4 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Madonna of the Pomegranate (Madonna della Melagrana) (c. 1487) - Tempera on panel, diameter 143,5 cm, Uffizi, Florence The Virgin and Child with Four Angels and Six Saints (Pala di San Barnaba) (c. 1487-1488) - Tempera on panel, 268 x 280 cm, Uffizi, Florence Vision of St. Augustine (c. 1488) - Tempera on panel, 20 x 38 cm, Uffizi, Florence Christ in the Sepulcre (c. 1488) - Tempera on panel, 21 x 41 cm, Uffizi, Florence Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist (c. 1488) - Tempera on panel, 21 x 40,5 cm, Uffizi, Florence Extraction of St. Ignatius' Heart (c. 1488) - Tempera on panel, 21 x 40,5 cm, Uffizi, Florence Cestello Annunciation (1489-1490) - Tempera on panel, 150 x 156 cm, Uffizi, Florence The Virgin Adoring the Child (c. 1490) - Tempera on panel, diameter 59,6 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington Lamentation over the Dead Christ with Saints (c. 1490) - Tempera on panel, 140 x 207 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich Portrait of a Man (c. 1490) - Tempera on canvas transferred from wood, 49 x 35 cm, Private collection San Marco Altarpiece (1490-1492) - Tempera on panel, 378 x 258 cm (pala) and 21 x 269 cm (entire predella) Uffizi, Florence St. Augustine in His Cell (1490-1494) - Tempera on panel, 41 x 27 cm cm, Uffizi, Florence Madonna and Child and the Young St John the Baptist (1490-1495) - Tempera on canvas, 134 x 92 cm, Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence Portrait of Lorenzo di Ser Piero Lorenzi (1490-1495) - Tempera on panel, 50 x 36,5 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Holy Trinity (Pala delle Convertite) (1491-1493) - Tempera on panel, 215 x192 cm, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London The Virgin and Child with Three Angels (Madonna del Padiglione) (c. 1493) - Tempera on panel, diameter 65 cm, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan Calumny of Apelles (1494-1495) - Tempera on panel, 62 x 91 cm, Uffizi, Florence Lamentation over the Dead Christ (c. 1495) - Tempera on panel, 107 x 71 cm, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan Last Communion of St. Jerome (c. 1495) - Tempera on panel, 34,5 x 25,4 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Portrait of Dante (c. 1495) - Tempera on canvas, 54,7 x 47,5 cm, Private collection The Story of Virginia (1496-1504) - Tempera on panel, 85 x 165 cm, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo The Story of Lucretia (1496-1504) - Tempera on panel, 83,5 x 180 cm, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston Crucifixion (c. 1497) - Tempera on canvas, 73,5 x 50,8 cm, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge Christ Crowned with Thorns (c. 1500) - Tempera on panel, 47,6 x 32,3 cm, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, Italy Transfiguration, St Jerome, St Augustine (c. 1500) - Tempera on panel, 27,5 x 35,5 cm, Galleria Pallavicini, Rome Judith Leaving the Tent of Holofernes (1495-1500) - Tempera on panel, 36,5 x 20 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Agony in the Garden (c. 1500) - Tempera on panel, 53 x 35 cm]], Capilla Real, Granada The Mystical Nativity (c. 1500) - Tempera on canvas, 108,5 x 75 cm, National Gallery, London Baptism of St. Zenobius and His Appointment as Bishop (1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 66,5 x 149,5 cm, National Gallery, London Three Miracles of St. Zenobius (1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 65 x 139,5 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Three Miracles of St. Zenobius (1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 67 x 150,5 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Last Miracle and the Death of St. Zenobius (1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 66 x 182 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden