Botticelli's Legacy

Self Portrait Of Sandro Botticelli

                          A few years ago I made a pilgrimage to The Uffizi Art Gallery in Florence, Italy.  Besides being considered one of the greatest art museums in the world, it is home to the most incredible collection of Renaissance art anywhere.  They have an amazing assortment of painting from the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Titan, and Raphael, but the center piece of this remarkable collection is "The Botticelli Room"  Here you will find the most iconic and critically acclaimed paintings from this 15th century genius.

    Sandro Botticelli was born in Florence, Italy in 1445 where he quickly developed his unique style and technique under the tutelage of Filippo Lippi.  Unlike his predecessors, Botticelli broke from convention and standard artistic themes like that of a Madonna with child and embraced a more Greco-Roman subject matter.  You can easily observe this in his Allegoria della Primavera.  Botticelli has created a landscape where springtime is in full bloom and a whole montage of Roman mythological characters that are acting out there stereotypical roles.  From Mars picking fruit from a luscious tree to the "The Three Graces" dancing a maypole dance to usher in the new season.  There is Flora elegantly tossing flowers from her gown, and Venus, the goddess of love, is giving her blessing to the whole affair.  Oh, and let's not forget about the adorable baby Cupid blindly shooting arrows of romance into the air,  Not only is this a departure from darker, more serious motifs of the Middle Ages, but it is a call back to a more enlighten time.  This was symbolic of the attitudes of The Renaissance and how they had yearned for an era of true enlightenment, and Botticelli was the man who could help drive this movement.

     To emphasis this sense of rebirth, Botticelli created his master piece Nascita di Venere or The Birth of Venus.  Here we witness a naked Venus being born is into the world.  Legend has it, that she was born from the foam of a wave, and was carried to shore on top of a giant clam shell.  This is where her attendant immediately cloths her.  This painting is not meant to be an expression of sexuality, but rather one of innocence.  Which explains Venus' bashfulness as she covers her angelic body.  Botticelli felt that only through God could we ever find true beauty, and he uses the most intricate of details to express it.  From Venus' hair whimsically blowing in the wind to the flower petals drifting to the sea, Botticelli dose not miss an opportunity to incorporate any of these suttle nuances.  He truly is a master of realism, and The Birth of Venus showcases this incredible talent.

     Regretfully, things changed in Florence, in the late 1490's, a monk by the name of Savonarola took over the city with a series of sermons preaching the damnation to all decadence.  He proclaimed that those who embrace a "pagan" lifestyle were condemned to burn in hell.  This lead to the people to  create several "bonfire of the vanities".  These were large bonfires that were fueled by books, fine clothing, and paintings.  Botticelli created his work La Calunnia or The Slander in response to this Post Renaissance era in Florence.  Here you see a hall with Brunelleschian style of architecture, which is stereotypical of the Renaissance, but it has been invaded by a much darker force.  The naked man in the center pleads his case before the court but is adamantly ignored, represented by the man in the black cloak, turning his back on him.  The young lady to the left, symbolizes truth, and looks to the heavens for divine intervention, which does not appear to come.  This sums up the emotional atmosphere of Florence during Savonarola's reign of terror.  Famed German writer Heinrich Heine once said that "when they start by burning books, they'll end by burning people" and in 1498, a feed up Florentine populace did just this to Savonarola on his own bonfires.  These traumatic events changed Botticelli, and his later works represent this new perspective on life.  They are significantly darker and express a more negative outlook on humanity.

   So as you can see, Sandro Botticelli was an innovator that embraced the ideologies of the Renaissance and crafted some of it's most iconic works.  If you are ever in Florence, Italy, make it a point to see these artistic treasures first hand.  They will absolutely dazzle your imagination and simply take your breath away.

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