Sandro BotticelliBy Jennifer

Birth name: Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi.

Born: c. 1445Florence, Italy

Death: May 17, 1510 (aged 64–65)Florence, Italy.

Botticelli

The youngest of five children, Botticelli’s father, a tanner, allowed him to become an apprentice to a goldsmith.

During this apprenticeship, the

goldsmith he worked with gave him the name Botticelli, meaning ‘little barrel

One of his elder brothers, Antonio, who afterwards became a bookseller, was at this time in business as a goldsmith and gold-leaf beater, and with him Sandro was very probably first put to work

Not much is known about his younger

years

EARLY LIFE

Venus and mars Minerva and the Centaur

EDUCATION Sandro convinced his father that he wanted to study painting and was chosen to be apprentice to the well known painter Fra Filippo Lippi

Lippi was well known for how he used color on church altarpieces and helped Sandro discover a similar style for his own work.

Sandro Botticelli developed tender expressions in his subjects face and in their gestures. He also used decorative details that were influenced by his training.

By the time he was 15 years old, he was able to open a workshop dedicated to his own work.

Influenc

esOne of Sandro's earliest expictures, t "Adoration of the Magi" at the National Gallery, London , shows him almost entirely under the influence of his first master.

Left in Florence on Fra Filippo's departure to Spoleto, he can be traced gradually developing his individuality under various influences, among which that of the realistic school of the Pollaiuoii is for some time the strongest.

From that school he acquired a knowledge of bodily structure and movement.

His portraits seemed to have a melancholy or sad characteristic to them. Sandro stressed line and detail using them to bring his characters alive – as if acting out a scene. He painted religious figures.

He included in his style a flowing characteristic that would clearly identify work as his. Botticelli also included Neo-Platonism in his work. This meant that he would bring together in one painting ideas that belong to both Christianity and pagan ideas which may have included mythology.

One theme that Botticelli used over and over again was the idea of a very sad young girl that was detached from what was going on around her. This theme appeared in many of his portraits throughout his career. Another theme Botticelli liked tackling were the roles male and females played in society. Sometimes Sandro would show traditional roles, but other times, he showed females as the dominant, most important figure.

Style

Medium

Oil paint on wood panels

Sandro Botticelli’s work was most in demand by the Medici

Botticelli is thought to have

used them as subjects for a large number of his works.

They traveled in very important circles and introduced Botticelli to some of the most influential people.

In these different settings, Sandro gathered material to use in his portraits and scene portrayals. The Medici family would pay huge sums of money for Botticelli’s work. Medici family

Botticelli and the Medici

In 1481, Botticelli was invited to Rome to take part in the painting of the Sistine Chapel. While there, Botticelli worked on several pieces in the Chapel. In all, Botticelli painted three large pieces, as well as seven portraits

Sandro became a follower of

the monk Savonarola who was a prominent civic leader in Florence. He stressed giving up all worldly things. He was very charismatic and often spoke of death and God’s wrath upon the people. Many of Botticelli’s previous paintings were considered ungodly and were burned along with objectionable books and playing cards. When Savonarola’s popularity ended, he was burnt in the center of Florence

Personal life

Botticelli’s later years seemed to be a disturbing time for him. As times changed in Florence, Botticelli tried to keep up. He often took on difficult commissions that other painters turned down. His rotating style reflected that Botticelli was struggling as a painter. His paintings were full of emotion raging from violence to grace and compassion.

Sandro Botticelli died at the age of 65. his work lay forgotten for over 400 years after his death

Botticelli never wed, and expressed a strong aversion to the idea of marriage, a prospect he claimed gave him nightmares. The popular view is that he suffered from unrequited love for Simonetta Vespucci a married noblewoman. She had served as the model for The Birth of Venus and recurs throughout his paintings, despite the fact that she had died years earlier, in 1476. Botticelli asked that when he die he be buried at her feet

PERSONAL LIFE

He was recognized with the honor to be part of the committee that chose the spot where Michelangelo would place his statue David

Awards