Top 10 Most Famous Works by Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli, was an Italian painter during the 1470s and had gained a reputation as the master of the Italian renaissance . He has produced several controversial, beautiful and eloquent paintings throughout his lifetime.
The Birth of Venus, 1485
This is one of the most famous paintings by Sandro Botticelli and demarks the Italian renaissance . The composition of ‘The Birth of Venus' has an underlying meaning to it.
Allegory of Fortitude, 1470
In another one of Botticelli’s famous paintings is a young woman wearing armour over a very gracefully drawn dress. She also holds a ruler’s sceptre, denoting perseverance and strength in the pursuit of goodness. She is depicted as one of the four cardinal human virtues.
Adoration of the Magi, 1476
On display at Uffizi in Florence, this famous painting by Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli dates back to 1475 or a year later. The painter was commissioned to paint at least 7 versions of this painting.
Temptations of Christ, 1482
Know to be one of Botticelli’s famous works, this painting has an interesting back story to it. In the latter part of the year 1480, Botticelli and some other Florentine painters started their journey for Rome.
Mars and Venus, 1483
This panel painting is one of Sandro Botticelli’s most famous paintings. Painted around 1485, it portrays the Roman Gods Mars, the God of war and Venus, of love, in a metaphor of valor and beauty.
La primavera, 1478
One of Sandro Botticelli’s famous works in the late 1470s, this painting is one of the most written and talked about in the world. This is also considered to be a very well-known and celebrated painting in Western art.
Where was Botticelli's painting exhibited?
When it was exhibited in 1857 in Manchester, more than a million people viewed it, and slowly his artworks began to receive considerable attention in Italy. One of the most Famous Botticelli Paintings.
What was Botticelli's goal?
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, born in c.1445 in the era of the early renaissance. Botticelli sought to achieve a loose and rhythmic composition , using an undulating line that’s meant to lighten the borders of his figures precisely. The result of his ambition was the creation of an imaginary world, where everything seems ...
What is the goddess of love born out of a seashell?
It depicts how the goddess of love is born out from a seashell as a fully matured woman, significantly symbolizing the female genitalia in classical times. The theme of this painting was launched by Medici Lorenzo de’ and the model for this work was the Aphrodite of Cnidos, an aphrodite statue.
When was the nativity made?
The Mystical Nativity was made in the year c.1500. Botticelli built up the image using oil on canvas.
When was La Primavera made?
La Primavera was madein the year 1478 . This painting is also hailed as “Allegory Of Spring”. The painting features six female figures and two males, along with a cupid, in an orange grove. It is described as one of the most written about, and most controversial paintings in the world.
When was Madonna of the Magnificat made?
Madonna Of The Magnificat was made in the year 1481. This religious artwork created in a circular form shows Holy Mother Mary looking solemnly at baby Jesus and writing a book. Due to the use of gold paint in varied details such as Mother Mary’s crown, it accounts for being the most expensive condo (circular artwork).
Who painted the Allegory of Fortitude?
Allegory Of Fortitude. A fine masterpiece of Lucrezia Donati by Botticelli. Allegory Of Fortitude was made in the year 1470. This work originally belonged to a set of seven panels representing Virtues, of which the other six panels are painted by Pietro Pollaiolo’s workshop.
Who is the central figure in Botticelli's Primavera?
Primavera. Venus is also the central figure in Botticelli’s Primavera (Italian for Spring). The Roman goddess of love is standing a bit further back but she is dominating the scene in the orange grove which includes nine figures of classical mythology.
Who painted Giuliano de Medici?
Botticelli painted the Portrait of Giuliano de’ Medici around 1478 to 1480, after the brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent was assassinated in the Pazzi Conspiracy. The painter created three different versions of the portrait with the version housed in Gemäldegalerie in Berlin being the only one with a neutral background. In contrast, the portrait located in Bergamo and Washington include an open window, and an open window and mourning dove, respectively. According to some sources, Botticelli may have painted the portrait from a death mask, which could explain Giuliano’s lowered eyelids.
Who painted Simonetta Vespucci?
Housed in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, the Portrait of a Young Woman is an idealised portrait of Simonetta Vespucci (1453-1476) painted by Botticelli around 1480. A noble woman from Genoa who was widely known for her exceptional beauty, Simonetta was married to Marco Vespucci (a distant cousin of the famous explorer Amerigo Vespucci) but she was allegedly also a mistress of Giuliano de’ Medici. Botticelli painted several portraits which are thought to represent Simonetta, while some also suggest that she may have inspired Botticelli ’s Venus and Primavera even though both have been painted long after her death.
What is the Madonna and Child painting?
One of several Botticelli’s paintings titled Madonna and Child, this version differs from others in that it depicts the so-called Nursing Madonna or the moment Mary is about to breastfeed Child Jesus. Wearing her traditional red and blue clothing, Mary is reaching towards her breast with her left hand, while holding Child Jesus on her lap with her right hand. They are shown sitting in the loggia or covered exterior gallery with an ached opening revealing steep landscape in the background. The painting, which is today on permanent display at the Musée du Petit Palais in Avignon, France, was acquired by Napoleon III for the Louvre in 1861 from the Campana collection.
Where is the Giuliano portrait?
In contrast, the portrait located in Bergamo and Washington include an open window, and an open window and mourning dove, respectively. According to some sources, Botticelli may have painted the portrait from a death mask, which could explain Giuliano’s lowered eyelids.
Who was the most famous Renaissance painter?
Alessandro di Mariano de Vanni Filipepi (c.1445 - 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli was rediscovered as one of the greatest Renaissance painters only in the 19th century. Even though he achieved great fame and admiration during his lifetime, and was even called by the Pope to help decorate the Sistine Chapel, his work fell into oblivion after his death. Famous for highly personal and individual style, the celebrated artist also worked for the Medici family which sponsored some of the greatest masterpieces of Italian Renaissance, including Botticelli’s.
Who sponsored the most important masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance?
Famous for highly personal and individual style, the celebrated artist also worked for the Medici family which sponsored some of the greatest masterpieces of Italian Renaissance, including Botticelli’s.
What was the gold paint used in Botticelli's paintings?
Gold paint was used extensively to detail many aspects of the work, such as Mary’s crown and the divine rays. It was even used to heighten the hair color of the figures. As a result, this was probably the most costly tondo ever created by Botticelli. Idealized Portrait of a Lady | © Google Art Project/WikiCommons.
What is the meaning of Botticelli's work?
Botticelli’s work, done with pen and brush on vellum, portrays the descent made by the poets Virgil and Dante through what the latter called the “abysmal valley of pain”. Dante envisioned hell as an abyss leading to the center of the Earth; he imagined nine rings of hell, each representing a different category of sin.
How many diagonal rows of figures does Botticelli use?
Botticelli does this with great skill by separating the scenes using four diagonal rows of figures. In each scene, Moses is easily identified by his yellow mantle and green cloak. Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder | © The Yorck Project/WikiCommons.
What is the name of the page that Botticelli painted in the Magnificat?
Botticelli painted ‘Madonna of the Magnificat’ in tondo, or circular form. In it, the Virgin Mary writes the opening of the Magnificat, a Christian hymn, on the right-hand page of a book; the page on the left is part of another hymn called the Benedictus.
Where is the Primavera painting?
Also found in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery is ‘La Primavera’, also known as ‘Allegory of Spring’, a painting that Botticelli completed around 1482 (about four years before ‘The Birth of Venus’). The work shows a group of mythological figures in a garden, including Venus, who stands at the center of the composition.
Where was Botticelli's Allegory of Fortitude originally set?
The first recorded work by Botticelli, ‘Allegory of Fortitude’ was originally part of a set of seven panels meant to decorate the high chair backs in a tribunal hall of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence.
Who was the greatest artist of the Renaissance?
Add to Plan. Italian painter Sandro Botticelli is one of the greatest artists of the early Renaissance. Having trained in the workshops of Filippo Lippi and Andrea del Verrocchio, Botticelli was a master of the techniques of perspective and foreshortening; he also had a keen sense of architectural design and anatomy.
What style of painting did Botticelli use?
Botticelli bridged the gap between the Medieval Gothic style of painting and an emerging Humanist Realism. His work incorporated an emerging knowledge of human anatomy and perspective, yet it retains a decorative quality, not found in the work of artists of the succeeding High Renaissance, or for a long time afterwards.
How old was Botticelli when he was born?
His date of birth is not certain, but his father, who worked as a tanner, submitted tax returns that claimed Botticelli was two years old in 1447 and 13 years old in 1458. Therefore, art historians have assumed that he was born around 1445. Read full biography. Read artistic legacy.
What was Botticelli's greatest achievement?
Accomplishments. Influenced by the revival of Greek and Roman ideas in Florence at the time, Botticelli was one of the first Western artists since classical times to depict non-religious subject matter. The idea that art could be for pleasure, and not only serve religious purposes was a breakthrough for Western art.
What does Botticelli's Venus' curves and sculptural surfaces mean?
The emphatically sensuous curves and sculptural surfaces of her body signify her physical desirability and use tactics studied from ancient sculpture.". In this way, Botticelli emphasizes Venus' power, but also eroticizes her, showing her divine beauty and drawing attention to the feminine body underneath her dress.
What was Botticelli's Primavera about?
As The Guardian's senior art critic Jonathan Jones puts it, "Botticelli's Primavera was one of the first large-scale European paintings to tell a story that was not Christian, replacing the agony of Easter with a pagan rite. The very idea of art as a pleasure, and not a sermon, began in this meadow.".
What is Botticelli's greatest influence on the Renaissance?
Botticelli was perhaps the greatest humanist painter of the Early Renaissance, yet much of his life and influences remain a mystery to us today. His paintings represent the pinnacle of the cultural flourishing of the Medicis' Florence, a prosperous society that encouraged the progress of art, philosophy and literature. Throughout his long career he was commissioned to paint many different subjects, but at the heart of his work he always strove towards beauty and virtue, the qualities represented by the goddess Venus, who is the subject of many of his most famous paintings.
Who painted Venus and Mars?
Venus and Mars (c.1485) In this panel painting, Botticelli turns once again to a mythological subject. Venus, the goddess of love, reclines on the grass while her lover Mars, the god of war, lies asleep and disarmed before her, presumably tired out by love-making.