Botticelli

I would be hard pressed to answer the question, "Who is your favorite painter?" How about you? I love Botticelli's graceful painting technique and color world! However, there are two many great painters to choose from! I would definitely be able to narrow down the number to may be 25-30 "favorites," but not one most favorite!

What I admire in Botticelli's painting is the almost out-of-this-world characters, the beautifully detailed faces (look at the Madonnas below), the colors he used (glowing gold, orange, yellow and earth tones), and the lightness of the brush strokes. Also, he may have been one of the first true masters to paint the folds in robes and drapery this realistically. The almost angelic beauty of his female figures expresses the yearning for harmony and beauty in a turbulent world at the time, full of plague, wars, uprisings and poverty juxtaposed with immense wealth.

Botticelli lived and worked in Florence Italy, and highly successful during his lifetime, with a unique style. At the dawn of High Renaissance style in the 16th century, he was forgotten and died in obscurity. It wasn't until much later that the Pre-Raphaelites re-discovered his Artwork, and he has been popular ever since. "Botticelli" means "little barrel" and was a nickname first given to his older brother.

Botticelli studied in Filippo Lippi's workshop. Many of Botticelli's paintings are undated, but one of his paintings entitled Adoration of the Magi (Florence, Uffizi) is estimated to have been done around 1475. This painting thus was created after Botticelli was already a respected painter in Lorenzo di Medici's court. In 1481 he was offered to join Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Rosselli to paint frescoes for the Sistine Chapel.

Botticelli's two most well known paintings are dated around this time period: Primavera (1478); and the Birth of Venus (1483). Today, these two paintings are located in the Art Palace of the Uffizi. With its floating etheric figures in the landscape, the viewer is left to wonder whether the figures will simply fly away any minute in front of his . her eyes!

* Madonna and Child with an Angel (1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, 87 x 60 cm, Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence
* Madonna and Child with an Angel (1465-67) - Tempera on panel, 110 x 70 cm, Musée Fesch, Ajaccio
* Madonna della Loggia (c. 1467) - Tempera on panel, 72 x 50 cm, Uffizi, Florence
* The Virgin and Child with Two Angels and the Young St. John the Baptist (1465-1470) - Tempera on panel, 85 x 62 cm, Galleria dell Accademia, Florence
* The Annunciation (c. 1479) - Tempera on panel, 19 x 30 cm. Hyde Collection, Glens Falls
* The Virgin and Child, St. John and an Angel (c. 1488) - Warsaw National Museum, Poland
* Adoration of the Magi (1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, 50 x 136 cm, National Gallery, London
* Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1469) - Tempera on panel, 51 x 33,7 cm, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
* Madonna in Glory with Seraphim (1469-1470) - Tempera on panel, 120 x 65 cm, Uffizi, Florence
* Madonna of the Rosegarden (Madonna del Roseto) (1469-1470) - Tempera on panel, 124 x 65 cm, Uffizi, Florence
* Madonna and Child and Two Angels (c. 1468-1470) - Tempera on panel, 100 x 71 cm, Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
* Portrait of Esmeralda Brandini (1470-1475) - Tempera on panel, 65,7 x 41 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
* Fortitude (c. 1470) - Tempera on panel, 167 x 87 cm, Uffizi, Florence
* Madonna and Child with Six Saints (Sant'Ambrogio Altarpiece) (c. 1470) - Tempera on panel, 170 x 194 cm, Uffizi, Florence
* Madonna and Child with an Angel (c. 1470) - Tempera on wood, 84 x 65 cm, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
* The Return of Judith to Bethulia (1470- 1472) - Oil on panel, 31 x 24 cm, Uffizi, Florence
* The Discovery of the Murder of Holofernes (1470-1472) - Tempera on wood, 31 x 25 cm, Uffizi, Florence
* Adoration of the Magi (1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, diameter 131,5 cm, National Gallery, London
* Portrait of a Young Woman (c. 1475) - Tempera on panel, 61 x 40 cm, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
* Adoration of the Magi (1465-1467) -Tempera on panel, 111 x 134 cm,

* Uffizi, Florence

Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder, 1474.
Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder, 1474.

* Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici (c. 1475) - Tempera on panel, 54 x 36 cm, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
* Madonna and Child (c. 1475) - Tempera on panel, Art Institute, Chicago
* Catherine of Alexandria, portrait of Caterina Sforza (c. 1475) - Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg
* Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici (1476-1477) - Tempera on panel, 75,6 x 36 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington
* The Birth of Christ, (1476-1477) - Fresco, 200 x 300 cm, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
* Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici (1478) - Panel, 54 x 36 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
* Madonna and Child with Eight Angels (c. 1478) - Tempera on panel, diameter 135 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
* St. Augustine (1480) - Fresco, 152 x 112 cm, church of Ognissanti, Florence
* Madonna of the Magnificat (Madonna del Magnificat) (1480-1483) - Tempera on panel, diameter 118 cm, Uffizi, Florence
* Madonna of the Book (Madonna del Libro) (c. 1480-1483) - Tempera on panel, 58 x 39,5 cm, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan
* Portrait of a Young Woman (1480-85) - Tempera on wood, 82 x 54 cm, Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt
* Portrait of a Young Woman (after 1480) - Oil on panel, 47,5 x 35 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
* Annunciation (1481) - Fresco, 243 x 550 cm, Uffizi, Florence
* St. Sixtus II (1481) - Fresco, 210 x 80 cm, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
* Adoration of the Magi (1481-1482) - Tempera on panel, 70 x 103 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington
* Pallas and the Centaur (1482-1483) - Tempera on canvas, 207 x 148 cm, Uffizi, Florence
* Venus and Mars (1483) - Tempera on panel, 69 x 173 cm, National Gallery, London
* Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1483) - Tempera on panel, 37,5 x 28,2 cm, National Gallery, London
* Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1482-1483) - Tempera on panel, 41 x 31 cm, National Gallery of Art

# Washington
# Lamentation over the Dead Christ (c. 1490) - Tempera on panel, 140 x 207 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
# Portrait of a Man (c. 1490) - Tempera on canvas transferred from wood, 49 x 35 cm, Private collection
# San Marco Altarpiece (1490-1492) - Tempera on panel, 378 x 258 cm (pala) and 21 x 269 cm (entire predella) Uffizi, Florence
# St. Augustine in His Cell (1490-1494) - Tempera on panel, 41 x 27 cm cm, Uffizi, Florence
# Madonna and Child and the Young St John the Baptist (1490-1495) - Tempera on canvas, 134 x 92 cm, Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence
# Portrait of Lorenzo di Ser Piero Lorenzi (1490-1495) - Tempera on panel, 50 x 36,5 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
# The Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist (1490-1500) - Tempera on wood, diameter 74 cm, São Paulo Art Museum, São Paulo, Brazil
# Holy Trinity (Pala delle Convertite) (1491-1493) - Tempera on panel, 215 x192 cm, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London
# The Virgin and Child with Three Angels (Madonna del Padiglione) (c. 1493) - Tempera on panel, diameter 65 cm, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan
# Calumny of Apelles (1494-1495) - Tempera on panel, 62 x 91 cm, Uffizi, Florence
# Lamentation over the Dead Christ with Saints (c. 1495) - Tempera on panel, 107 x 71 cm, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan
# Last Communion of St. Jerome (c. 1495) - Tempera on panel, 34,5 x 25,4 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
# Portrait of Dante (c. 1495) - Tempera on canvas, 54,7 x 47,5 cm, Private collection
# The Story of Virginia (1496-1504) - Tempera on panel, 85 x 165 cm, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
# The Story of Lucretia (1496-1504) - Tempera on panel, 83,5 x 180 cm, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
# Crucifixion (c. 1497) - Tempera on canvas, 73,5 x 50,8 cm, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge
# Christ Crowned with Thorns (c. 1500) - Tempera on panel, 47,6 x 32,3 cm, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, Italy

# Transfiguration, St Jerome, St Augustine (c. 1500) - Tempera on panel, 27,5 x 35,5 cm, Galleria Pallavicini, Rome
# Judith Leaving the Tent of Holofernes (1495-1500) - Tempera on panel, 36,5 x 20 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
# Agony in the Garden (c. 1500) - Tempera on panel, 53 x 35 cm]], Capilla Real, Granada
# The Mystical Nativity (c. 1500) - Tempera on canvas, 108,5 x 75 cm, National Gallery, London
# Baptism of St. Zenobius and His Appointment as Bishop (1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 66,5 x 149,5 cm, National Gallery, London
# Three Miracles of St. Zenobius (1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 65 x 139,5 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
# Three Miracles of St. Zenobius (1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 67 x 150,5 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
# Last Miracle and the Death of St. Zenobius (1500-1505) - Tempera on panel, 66 x 182 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

The Cestello Annunciation
c. 1489; Tempera on panel, 150 x 156 cm; Uffizi, Florence

The Adoration of the Magi
1470-75; Tempera on panel; 111 x 134 cm; Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

La Primavera
1477-78; "Allegory of Spring"; 315 x 205 cm; painted for the villa of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici at Castello
now in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence

Madonna of the Magnificat
c.1485; Tempera on Panel, diameter 118 cm, in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence

Madonna of the Pomegranate
Madonna and Child and six Angels, c. 1487, Uffizi in Florence