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Dear Friends,
Now that the introductory section is over, we can begin to study the great art of the world with a more
systematic exhibition of the master works of the greatest painters and sculptors in the world history. And although I will keep my purpose to make
this forum as
simple as possible, I will still include a short notice about
the artist featured and also, as before, will try to follow the
main historic trends and schools
but maintaining the highest possible flexibility in their order
of appearance.
Due to several factors that will not be discussed for lack
of space, we will not include here the art of the Pre-Renaissance
period. Our main reason
for it is of a aesthetic order, although the fact that
absolutely all works belonging to that period were of a
religious nature has also played a role in my decision to
abstain from featuring it as it
might make the forum too one-sided. Considering this, and in
order to be practical, we will simply start this main section
with the Renaissance period and, within this, the Early
Renaissance followed by the High Renaissance, the Northern
Renaissance, and the movement known as Mannerism.
The artists presented within the Early Renaissance will be Luca
della Robbia (1400 - 1482), Fra Angellico (1387 - 1455) or maybe Fra Filippo Lippi (1406 - 1469), Piero della Francesca (1422 -
1492), and, inaugurating now this section, the great Sandro
Botticelli (1445 - 1510) with a favorite of all times, The
Birth of Venus.
It is
uncertain who commissioned this painting, one of the first non-biblical
female nudes in Italian art where the goddess of love is
depicted in accordance with the classical Venus pudica. One
thing is certain, though - what is depicted in thin painting is
not the moment of the goddess' birth, but the moment when she
comes ashore driven on a shell by Zephyr as Venus’ hair, which
is playfully fluttering around her face in the wind, is given a
particularly fine sheen by the use of fine golden strokes.
As always, visitors are encouraged to post their good feedback.
Thank you,
Luis Miguel Goitizolo
GREAT MASTERS OF
PAINTING
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The Birth of Venus (1)
by
Sandro Botticelli
born 1445?, Florence [Italy]
died May 17, 1510, Florence
Profile
(2)
original name Alessandro Di Mariano Filipepi,
one of the greatest painters of the Florentine Renaissance. His
“The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera” are often said to epitomize
for modern viewers the spirit of the Renaissance.
Italian
painter and draughtsman. In his lifetime he was one of the most
esteemed painters in Italy, enjoying the patronage of the
leading families of Florence, in particular the Medici and their
banking clients. He was summoned to take part in the decoration
of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, was highly commended by
diplomatic agents to Ludovico Sforza in Milan and Isabella
d’Este in Mantua and also received enthusiastic praise from the
famous mathematician Luca Pacioli and the humanist poet Ugolino
Verino. By the time of his death, however, Botticelli’s
reputation was already waning. He was overshadowed first by the
advent of what Vasari called the maniera devota, a new
style by Perugino, Francesco Francia and the young Raphael,
whose new and humanly affective sentiment, infused atmospheric
effects and sweet colourism took Italy by storm; he was then
eclipsed with the establishment immediately afterwards of the
High Renaissance style, which Vasari called the ‘modern manner’,
in the paintings of Michelangelo and the mature works of Raphael
in the Vatican. From that time his name virtually disappeared
until the reassessment of his reputation that gathered momentum
in the 1890s.
Technical data
(3)
The Birth of Venus
(c.1485)
Tempera on canvas
67
7/8
x 109
5/8
inches (172.5 x 278.5 cm)
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy
Added 10/29/2001
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