Sandro Botticelli
By Izzy Craig
Information on Botticelli
- Born in 1445 in Florence, Italy, where he spent most of his life
- Born as Alessandro di Mariano Vanni Filipepi Botticelli, but is better
known as Sandro Botticelli, which means 'small wine cask',
- He was formally educated until the age of 14, and was later apprenticed by Fra Fillippus Lippi in 1461
- Originally was a goldsmith and had his own workshop by the age of 15 before he began painting
- Life was spent creating paintings, revolving from a popular renaissance style of individualism to adding smaller figures to add interest and realism to the painting
- Patrons were the famous Medici family
- Created paintings, including La Primivera, The Birth of Venus, and The Story of Moses
The Birth of Venus
- Painted by Botticelli in 1484-1486
- Located today in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
- This painting was based on the homeric hyms written by Angelo Poliziano this also is one of the first paintings to represent neoplatism, bringing back the pagist goddess Venus
- The painting consists of the Roman goddess Venus emerging from the sea. The pale skin and gold hair greatly contrasts from the average person in Florence, and her figure represents her feminism (long neck, curvy body.)This painting also shows the wind god Deities and one if the three graces, who appears with a cloak to cover the goddess.
- This is linked to paganism as it is a depiction of one of the Roman goddesses. It also consists of individualism because the pieces of the painting are individually represented. Each person has their own facial expression and no two parts of it look alike
- I find this piece interesting because it was a stark contrast to alot of other renaissance art, which was dark and more simple. I also liked how one point of The Birth of Venus seemed almost glowing, while another could be pale an unnoticed.
http://library.artstor.org/library/iv2.html?parent=true
Citations
"Sandro Botticelli." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.