Lecture 17: Sandro Botticelli
the niches, the one directly above the innocent man resembles Donatello’s
St. George, a defender of the weak.This work was not a commission, and it seems doubtful that Botticelli painted
it only to follow Alberti’s advice. The work may be political. The passion
that emanates from the painting may be attributed to the controversy over
the Dominican preacher Savonarola, whose denunciation of contemporary
morals and the ruling Medici split Florentine opinion. Botticelli was
suf¿ ciently moved by Savonarola’s new morality that he threw some of his
own paintings of nude ¿ gures onto the infamous bon¿ res of the vanities
that Savonarola incited. Depending on its date, the painting could be an
early defense of the monk whom many hated, or it could be a memorial of
Savonarola’s excommunication in 1497 and brutal public execution in 1498.Another work, the Mystic Nativity (c. 1500), is a beautiful but strange
painting. We see a ring of dancing angels in the sky, above a row of men
embracing angels in the foreground. The Madonna is depicted adoring the
Christ Child, while St. Joseph cowers in the nativity shed, and a ¿ ssure in
the Earth reveals demons. The inscription on a band across the top of the
picture is full of references to the Book of Revelation and refers equally to
French invasions of Italy and to the trial and execution of Savonarola. This is
a profoundly personal painting, done toward the end of Botticelli’s career.After 1500, Botticelli painted very little, but his tragic Lamentation
(c. 1495–1500) may be one of his last major efforts. The composition
contains curves and angles, parallelisms of ¿ gures, strong symmetry, and
shallow space. The painting shows Christ supported by St. John and another
holy woman, with St. Mary Magdalene at his feet and another woman
supporting his head. These ¿ gures are brilliantly lit against the darkness.
St. Peter is at the right holding his attribute of keys. St. Jerome, with
stone, and St. Paul, with his sword, are on the left. Pathos is the quality
in something experienced or observed that arouses feelings of pity, sorrow,
sympathy, or compassion. The Lamentation has this quality magni¿ ed, and
from it, we learn how to feel more intensely and cope with our own losses. It
is a towering expression of both universal and particular grief. These works
give some idea of the range of Botticelli’s art, which is much more than
sweet paintings of Madonnas. Ŷ