Sandro Botticelli
Sandro
Botticelli was born in 1445. As a child,
he was admitted to the Medici’s Florentine school, under the Lorenzo di’
Medici. He became an apprentice at the
age of fourteen, and he was taught some most of his talent, by Fra Filippo
Lippi. Botticelli learned to pay
attention to detail of the body from Lippi, who was very interested in the works
of Masaccio. Botticelli created many
fantastic works including Primavera, the Adoration of the Maggi, and the Birth
of Venus. Because the Birth of Venus is
so popular and widely known it is an interesting experience to see it in
person, at the Uffizi. This painting is tempera
on panel, with Venus in the middle of the painting, standing on a shell. It is as if she was born from the sea, out of
a shell, created by God. The background
includes an ocean that is very flat and does not look very realistic. But the eye does not recognize it as bad,
because the attention is supposed to be on Venus, who is in a typical baptism
scene. This scene is very beautiful;
showing the color of Venus’ blonde hair contrasting against the water, and sky
makes her seem so majestic, and separated from the background. Botticelli, knew how to show the importance
of this goddess, who is seen as a comparison to the Virgin Mary.
Birth of Venus
Sandro Botticelli
Uffizi Gallery
Wiki commons
Vasari on Leonardo
Da Vinci
Leonardo
da Vinci was born in 1452 and died in 1519 during his life; he completely
mastered the art of painting, and much more.
Leonardo was very interested in learning as a kid, but Vasari states
that he” set himself to learn many things, and then, after having begun
them, abandoned them.” Although he did
this, he excelled in arithmetic. One of
his flaws, most likely the only one is that Leonardo had trouble finishing his
projects. We can understand why, because
Vasari tells us that he believed “the hand was not able to attain to the
perfection of art in carrying out the things which he imagined.” This is a very interesting belief, because
Leonardo’s mind was so complex in what he saw in his mind as things to paint,
he himself did not think that it was possible for his hand to create them. Leonardo was probably one of the best
painters of all time, and it is very easy to understand the genius that he
held.
Self Portrait in chalk
Leonardo da Vinci
Wikipedia Commons
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