One of the most exciting things to do in Florence is to admire the iconic artworks from the Renaissance. Sandro Botticelli’s masterpieces “the Birth of Venus” and “Allegory of Spring” in the Uffizi Gallery is a breathtaking experience that you can’t miss while visiting Florence.
It’s impossible not to be impressed in front of Botticelli’s way of painting. His style is unique, a little bit of a fairytale. His two most famous works were carried out around 1480 for the Medici and feature mythology.
The “Birth of Venus” features the goddess of love sailing up on a shell helped by two spring winds. The soft colours and the relaxing subject make the painting one of the most popular ones in art history.
In the “Allegory of Spring” the colours are more vibrant and the painting is so rich in details that you can literally spend hours just to define every single flower and admire the painter’s brush strokes. Still today the work is surrounded by a veil of mystery and a range of interpretations.
The Uffizi Gallery in Florence is where you find the best paintings by Sandro Botticelli and I suggest that you take your time to really contemplate the incredible works by one of the best Renaissance painters. Botticelli’s graceful female faces, his angels and his particular interest in describing fabrics are just amazing.
Still one of the earliest works by Botticelli is hanging in another museum in Florence. Look out for the small “Madonna of the Sea” in the Academy of Fine Arts before you head to David. Another museum with a bunch of Botticelli’s paintings is the Palatine Gallery in the Pitti Palace, the last residence of the Medici.
Who was Botticelli?
Alessandro Filipepi, or Sandro Botticelli, was born in Florence in 1445 as the last son of four. According to the tradition he was called Botticelli due to one of his older brothers who was round as a barrel. Unfortunately we don’t know much about Botticelli’s childhood and youth. For a while he probably worked under one of his brothers who was a goldsmith.
For sure Botticelli became one of the disciples of the famous painter and monk Filippo Lippi around 1464. It’s actually easy to tell that Botticelli was inspired by his master in his first works. Filippo Lippi was not whoever. He was one of the favourite artists of the Medici and certainly that helped Botticelli in his career.
The Medici, who ruled from 1434, contributed to the heydays of the Renaissance in Florence by sponsoring artists and introducing a more modern concept of art and power.
Later on Botticelli was a member of Verrocchio’s big and prospering workshop. Here he met a young Leonardo da Vinci and the two artists became good friends. So close that they even opened up a restaurant next to the Ponte Vecchio.
In the “Baptism of Jesus” by Verrocchio to be found in the Uffizi Gallery you are not only able to see the hand of the master, but also of the two apprentices, Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci.
The Sistine Chapel
Botticelli soon became one of the most famous and popular artists in Florence and worked for the Medici.
Few people remember that Botticelli and some other artists from Florence and Umbria went to Rome in 1481 to paint the walls of the Sistine Chapel. They were sent to Rome by Lorenzo the Magnificent who wanted to make peace with the pope Sixtus IV after the famous Pazzi conspiracy in 1478.
The beautiful fresco-cycle representing the life of Moses and Jesus were carried out by Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandaio and some other artists, though today the chapel is more famous for Michelangelo’s outstanding frescoes.
In Florence
Back in Florence Botticelli kept on working for the Medici and their friends. His workshop was located in the area where he had been growing up, close to the Ognissanti church. His enchanting paintings from this period are today exposed in the Uffizi Gallery.
There is probably no other artist who is more associated with Florence and the Medici than Sandro Botticelli. He is simply one of the most extraordinary painters of the Renaissance.
The Bonfire of Vanity
But Botticelli’s patron, Lorenzo the Magnificent, died in 1492 and unfortunately the new leader of the dynasty showed to be a bad ruler of Florence. Another actor turned up on the scene, a monk called Girolamo Savonarola. The monk had been invited to Florence by Lorenzo the Magnificent despite the fact that Savonarola was openly against the Medici.
His sermons in the Cathedral of Florence became more and more aggressive and in 1494 the monk took over the control of the city and the Medici were expelled.
Botticelli was among the people who saw Savonarola as a saviour and became a devoted follower of the monk. That meant that when Savonarola asked Botticelli to burn some of his pagan artworks on the “Bonfire of Vanity” the artist didn’t hesitate. We unfortunately don’t know the number of paintings that were destroyed in that act.
In 1498, though, the florentines had had enough and Girolamo Savonarola was hung and burnt in Piazza della Signoria.You can still today see the spot where the monk died. It’s indicated with a stone in front of the Neptune statue. The ashes were thrown into the Arno river.
Botticelli’s last years
Botticelli never became the same after this episode though he painted his only signed and dated work, Mystic Nativity, in 1501.
Yet the Botticelli was among the artists to decide where Michelangelo’s David was gonna stand in 1504. His idea to put David in front of the Cathedral was though turned down.
Sandro Botticelli died in 1510 and was buried in the church of his neighbourhood, Ognissanti. His tomb is very simple in a church known for its artworks by Giotto, Ghirlandaio and Botticelli himself. It’s also the church where to find the Vespucci family’s chapel.