Friday 9 June 2023

Sandro Botticelli - part 1

Thought to be a self-portrait:
detail from The Adoration of the Magi
© The Art Archive/Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence /
Alfredo Dagli Orti
 

At the height of his fame, the Florentine painter and draughtsman Sandro Botticelli was one of the most esteemed artists in Italy. His graceful pictures of the Madonna and Child, his altarpieces and his life-size mythological paintings were immensely popular in his lifetime.

It is thought that Botticelli first trained with Maso Finiguerra, a goldsmith, before entering the studio of the artist Fra Filippo Lippi. He began his career painting frescoes for Florentine churches and cathedrals, and worked with the painter and engraver Antonio del  . By 1470, he had his own workshop.

In 1472, Botticelli joined the Compagnia di San Luca, the confraternity of Florentine painters. He also employed Filippino Lippi, his late teacher's son, as his apprentice, and broke convention by completing Filippino's version of 'The Adoration of the Kings' - it was far more usual for an apprentice to finish a painting by his master rather than the other way round.


Botticelli's apprenticeship with Fra Filippo gave him excellent contacts. His master had enjoyed the patronage of some of the leading families in Florence, such as the Medici. Botticelli in turn spent almost all his life working for the Medici family and their circle of friends, for whom he painted some of his most ambitious secular paintings such as 'Primavera' (in the Uffizi, Florence).


Botticelli's star was in the ascendant. Such was his reputation that, in 1481, he was summoned by the Pope to Rome to help decorate the walls of the recently completed Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. He painted frescoes depicting scenes from the Life of Moses and the Temptations of Christ and was also responsible for a number of papal portraits. The nature of this task demonstrates how highly regarded he was around this time, and it was the only occasion he is known to have worked outside Florence. A year later, Botticelli returned to Florence, to continue with the most prolific stage of his career.

The period from 1478-90 saw Botticelli at his most creative. This was the period during which he produced his famous mythological works, such as 'The Birth of Venus' (in the Uffizi, Florence) and 'Venus and Mars.' In these he successfully combined a decorative use of line with elements of the classical tradition, seen in the harmony of his composition and the supple contours of his figures.

During the last 15 years of his life, Botticelli's work appeared to undergo a crisis of style and expression.

The 1490s was a turbulent decade - the Medici had been expelled from Florence and Italy's peace disrupted by invasion and plagues. Botticelli rejected the ornamental charm of his earlier works in favour of a more simplistic approach that seemed crude and heavy-handed by contrast. These later paintings, with their deep moral and religious overtones, also suffered a comparison with the sophisticated aesthetic of artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael.


According to Vasari in his book 'The Lives of the Artists', in his latter years Botticelli became a follower of the fanatical Dominican friar Savonarola, and the pious sentiment of his later works would seem to suggest some involvement in the religious and political upheavals in Florence at the time. 'Mystic Nativity' is Botticelli's most ambitious painting from this period and reflects this sense of apocalyptic foreboding.

Vasari also suggests that, as his work fell out of favour, Botticelli became melancholic and depressed. He had never married, preferring the company of family and friends. Having always been known for his high spirits and quick wit, the image of Botticelli's final years as a rapid decline into poverty, isolation and mental anguish is a poignant one.


After his death, his name all but disappeared until the late 19th century, when a developing appreciation for Florentine arts and culture brought about a renewed interest in his work.

Biography from The National Gallery, London


This is part 1 of a 6-part series on the works of Sandro Botticelli:



1465-67 Madonna and Child with an Angel
tempera on panel 87 x x 60 cm
Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence

1465-70 Madonna and Child with Angels
(attributed to Sandro Botticelli)
 oil and tempera on poplar panel 86.7 x 57.8 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

1465-70 The Virgin and Child with two Angels and the young St John the Baptist
tempera on panel 85 x 62 cm
Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence

1467-68 Madonna and Child with an Angel
tempera on panel 152 x 77 cm
Musée Fesch, Ajaccio

c1467 Madonna and Child
(Madonna della Loggia)
temp[era on panel 72 by 50 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

c1468-69 Madonna and Child with two Angels
 tempera on panel 100 x 71 cm
Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples

c1468 Madonna and Child with adoring Angel
tempera on panel 88.9 x 68 cm
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
 

c1468 Madonna and Child with the infant St. John
tempera and oil on poplar panel 90.7 x 67 cm
Louvre, Paris

1469-70 Madonna in Glory with Seraphim
tempera on panel 120 x 65 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

1469-70 Madonna of the Rose Garden
tempera on panel 124 x 65 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

1469c Portrait of a Young Man
tempera on panel 51 x 33.7 cm
Pitti Palace, Florence

1470-71 Adoration of the Magi
tempera on panel 131.5 diameter
The National Gallery, London

1470-71 Adoration of the Magi detail
tempera on panel 131.5 diameter
The National Gallery, London

1470-72 Sacred Conversation:
 Altarpiece of Sant'Ambrogio
tempera on panel 170 x 195 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

1470-74 Virgin and Child with an Angel 
tempera on panel 85.2 x 65 cm
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA

1470-75 The Adoration of the Kings
tempera on poplar wood panel 130.8 diameter
The National Gallery, London

1470-75 Three Scenes from the Story of Esther
tempera? on wood panel 48 x 132 cm
Louvre, Paris

1470-75 Three Scenes from the Story of Esther
detail

1470-75 Three Scenes from the Story of Esther
detail

1470-75 Three Scenes from the Story of Esther
detail

1470-75 Virgin and Child with Young St John the Baptist
tempera? on wood panel 90 x 67 cm
Louvre, Paris

1470-80 Portrait of a Lady known as Smeralda Bandinelli
tempera on panel 87 x 62 cm (with frame)
V&A, London

c1470-80 Three garbed Figures
silverpoint on paper 19.7 x 24.3 cm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

c1470 Adoration of the Kings
tempera on wood 50.2 x 135.9 cm
The National Gallery, London
 

c1470 Adoration of the Kings detail
tempera on wood 50.2 x 135.9 cm
The National Gallery, London

c1470 Adoration of the Kings detail
tempera on wood 50.2 x 135.9 cm
The National Gallery, London

c1470 Adoration of the Kings detail
tempera on wood 50.2 x 135.9 cm
The National Gallery, London

c1470 Adoration of the Kings detail
tempera on wood 50.2 x 135.9 cm
The National Gallery, London

c1470 Fortitude
tempera on panel 167 x 87 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

c1470 Fortitude detail
tempera on panel 167 x 87 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

c1470 Madonna and Child and Two Angels
tempera on panel 100 x 71 cm
Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples

c1470 Madonna and Child with an Angel
tempera on wood panel 84 x 65 cm
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

c1470 Madonna and Child with an Angel detail
tempera on wood panel 84 x 65 cm
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

c1470 Madonna and Child with Six Saints
(Sant'Ambrogio Altarpiece)
tempera on panel 170 x 194 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

c1470 Madonna with Child Jesus, St. John and Angel
tempera on panel 108 x 11 cm
National Museum, Warsaw, Poland

c1470 Virgin and Child
tempera on wood panel (size not given)
Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon

1470s Portrait of a Young Man holding a Roundel
tempera on poplar wood panel 58 x 39 cm
Private Collection

1470s Portrait of a Young Man holding a Roundel detail
tempera on poplar wood panel 58 x 39 cm
Private Collection

1472 The Return of Judith to Bethulia
oil on panel 31 x 24 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

c1472 The Discovery of the Murder of Holofernes
tempera on wood panel 31 x 25 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

c1473-75 Nativity
fresco transferred to canvas (size not given)
Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina

1474 Saint Sebastian
oil on poplar wood panel 154 x 75 cm
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

c1474-75 Portrait of a Man with the Medal of Cosimo the Elder
tempera on panel 57.5 x 44 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Florence


Wednesday 7 June 2023

Franz Marc - part 7

Franz Marc was born on February 8, 1880, in Munich. The son of a landscape painter, he decided to become an artist after a year of military service interrupted his plans to study philology. From 1900 to 1902 he studied at the Kunstakademie in Munich with Gabriel Hackl and Wilhelm von Diez. The following year, during a visit to France, he was introduced to Japanese woodcuts and the work of the Impressionists in Paris.

Marc suffered from severe depression from 1904 to 1907. In 1907 he went again to Paris, where he responded enthusiastically to the work of Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, the Cubists, and the Expressionists; later, he was impressed by the Henri Matisse exhibition in Munich in 1910. During this period he received steady income from the animal-anatomy lessons he gave to artists.

In 1910 Marc’s first solo show was held at Kunsthandlung Brackl, Munich; and he met August Macke and the collector Bernhard Koehler. He publicly defended the Neue Künstlervereinigung München (NKVM) and was formally welcomed into the group early in 1911, when he met Vasily Kandinsky. After internal dissension split the NKVM, he and Kandinsky formed Der Blaue Reiter, whose first exhibition took place in December 1911 at Heinrich Thannhauser’s Moderne Galerie, Munich. Marc invited members of the Berlin Brücke group to participate in the second Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) show two months later at the Galerie Hans Goltz, Munich. Der Blaue Reiter Almanac was published with lead articles by Marc in May 1912. When World War I broke out in August 1914 Marc immediately enlisted. He was deeply troubled by Macke’s death in action shortly thereafter; during the war, he produced his Sketchbook from the Field. Marc died on March 4, 1916, in Braquis, near Verdun-sur-Meuse, France.


This is part 7 of a 7-part series on the works of Franz Marc: 

1913 Two Sheep
postcard from Sindelsdorf to Wassily Kandinsky in Murnau
watercolour, gouache and collage 9 x 14 cm
Municipal Gallery in the Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau Munich

1913 Two Wolves
watercolour and ink on paper 39.3 x 45 cm
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

1913 Waterfall in Ice
media? on cardboard 113.5 x 80.5 cm
(Destroyed during World War II)

1913 Wild Horse
postcard from Sindelsdorf to Wassily Kandinsky in Munich
woodcut 9.2 x 14.2 cm
Municipal Gallery in the Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau Munich

1913 Wood with Squirrel
oil on canvas 109.5 x 100 cm
Kunsthaus, Zurich

1913-14 Abstract Composition
gouache on silver prepared paper 15.5 x 26 cm

1913-14 Abstract Composition
 tempera on paper 12 x 15.3 cm

1913-14 Abstract Watercolour
tempera, watercolour and brush and black ink on paper
22.2 x 16.7 cm

1913-14 Small Composition (House with Trees)
oil on canvas 60.5 x 46 cm
Sprengel Museum, Hannover

1913-14 Small Composition
oil on canvas 45.5 x 56.5 cm
Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum der Stadt Hagen

1913-14 The Little Mountain Goats
oil on canvas 60.6 x 40.6 cm
Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri

1913-14 Tyrol
oil on canvas 135.7 x 144.5 cm
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich

c1913 Small Fabulous Beast
watercolour, pen and ink and pencil on the reverse of a postcard 9.1 x 14.1 cm

1914  Creation I, from the portfolio "New European Graphics, Portfolio III; German Artists"
 (posthumously printed in 1921 and published in 1922)
woodcut 24 x 19.5 cm (image)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1914 Abstract Forms
oil on canvas 81 x 112.5 cm
Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster

1914 Abstract
watercolour and pencil on paper 16.7 x 22 cm

1914 Animals in a Landscape
oil on canvas 110.2 x 99.7 cm
The Detroit Institute of Arts, MI

1914 Birds
oil on canvas 109 x 100 cm
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich

1914 Broken Forms
oil on canvas  112 x 84.5 cm
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

1914 Caliban - Figurine for "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare
tempera on paper, mounted on cardboard 46.9 x 39.8 cm (sheet)
Kunstmuseum Basel

1914 Cheerful Forms
oil on canvas 105 x 151 cm
(Destroyed during World War II)

1914 Chimera 
limestone: Inlay - Ochre coloured stones  11.7 x 19.5 x 10 cm
Municipal Gallery in the Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau Munich

1914 Deer in the Forest
oil and ink on canvas 110.5 x 100.5 cm
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

1914 Fighting Forms (Abstract Forms I)
oil on canvas 91 x 131.5 cm
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich

1914 Genesis I, from the portfolio "New European Graphics, Portfolio III: German Artists"
woodcut in black on ivory Japanese paper 24 x 20 cm (image)
Harvard University Art Museums Photo
© President and Fellows of Harvard College

1914 Genesis II
woodcut in yellow, black, and green (size not given)
National Gallery of Art,  Washington, DC

1914 Landscape with House and Two Cows
oil on canvas 66 x 71 cm
Werner and Gabrielle Merzbacher, Switzerland

1914 Playing Forms
oil on canvas 56.5 x 170 cm
Museum Folkwang, Essen

1914 Creation Story I (Animals)
woodcut on paper 24 x 20 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

1914 Sheep
oil on canvas 54.5 x 77 cm
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

1914 Small Composition IV
oil on canvas 39 x 49 cm
Franz Marc Museum, Kochel am See, Germany

1914 Story of Creation II
woodcut printed in colour 23.9 x 20 cm (image)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

1914 The Little Mountain Goats
oil on canvas 60.5 x 40.5 cm
The Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri

1914 Two Donkeys
watercolour, coloured pencil, and graphite on paper
 21.6 x 16.2 cm
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

1914 Two Mythical Animals
woodcut in black on Japan paper 9.9 x 12.1 cm (image)
National Gallery of Art,  Washington, DC

1917 (published posthumously) Stella Peregrina
Illustrated book with 18 hand-coloured facsimile reproductions of drawings 45.5 x 33.6 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

n.d. Blue deer in a Landscape
gouache, watercolour and pencil on paper 21.7 x 16.7 cm

n.d. Deer leaping among flowers
watercolour and pen and ink on paper 10.3 x 15.2 cm

n.d. Lioness
pen and ink and wash on paper 10.5 x 9 cm

n.d. Sleeping Shepherdess
woodcut in black on cream laid paper 19.8 x 23.9 cm (image)
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

n.d. The Waterfall (Women under a Waterfall)
oil on canvas 165.5 x 158.5 cm

n.d. Tiger
watercolour and pencil on paper 10.2 x 17 cm

n.d. Two large horses in a landscape
oil and mixed media on glass 20.3 x 31.2 cm

n.d. Two nudes in a landscape
gouache, watercolour and pencil on paper 12 x 19 cm