Editing Sandro Botticelli (section)

=== Key early paintings ===
Botticelli's earliest surviving altarpiece is a large ''[[sacra conversazione]]'' of about 1470–72, now in the Uffizi. The painting shows Botticelli's early mastery of composition, with eight figures arranged with an "easy naturalness in a closed architectural setting".<ref>Lightbown, 50.</ref>

Another work from this period is the ''[[St. Sebastian (Botticelli)|Saint Sebastian]]'' in Berlin, painted in 1474 for a pier in [[Santa Maria Maggiore, Florence|Santa Maria Maggiore]], Florence.<ref>Lightbown, 50–51.</ref> This work was painted soon after the Pollaiuolo brothers' [[Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian (Pollaiuolo)|much larger altarpiece of the same saint]] (London, National Gallery). Though Botticelli's saint is very similar in pose to that by the Pollaiuolo, he is also calmer and more poised. The almost nude body is very carefully drawn and anatomically precise, reflecting the young artist's close study of the human body. The delicate winter landscape, referring to the saint's feast-day in January, is inspired by contemporary [[Early Netherlandish painting]], widely-appreciated in Florentine circles.<ref>Lightbown, 51–52; Ettlingers, 22–23.</ref>

At the start of 1474 Botticelli was asked by the authorities in Pisa to join the work frescoing the [[Camposanto]], a large prestigious project mostly being done by [[Benozzo Gozzoli]], who spent nearly twenty years on it. Various payments up to September are recorded, but no work survives, and it seems that whatever Botticelli started was not finished. Nevertheless, that Botticelli was approached from outside Florence demonstrates a growing reputation.<ref>Lightbown, 52.</ref> 

[[File:Zanobi-Altar.jpg|thumb|''[[Adoration of the Magi (Botticelli, 1475)|Adoration of the Magi]]'', 1475, 111&nbsp;×&nbsp;134&nbsp;cm (44&nbsp;×&nbsp;53&nbsp;in), Uffizi, Florence]]

The ''[[Adoration of the Magi (Botticelli, 1475)|Adoration of the Magi]]'' for [[Santa Maria Novella]] ({{circa|1475–76}}, now in the [[Uffizi]], and the first of 8 ''Adorations''),<ref>Hartt, 324.</ref> was singled out for praise by Vasari, and was in a much-visited church, so spreading his reputation. It can be thought of as marking the climax of Botticelli's early style. Despite being commissioned by a money-changer, or perhaps money-lender, not otherwise known as an ally of the Medici, it contains the portraits of [[Cosimo de Medici]], his sons [[Piero di Cosimo de' Medici|Piero]] and [[Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici|Giovanni]] (all these by now dead), and his grandsons [[Lorenzo de Medici|Lorenzo]] and [[Giuliano di Piero de' Medici|Giuliano]]. There are also portraits of the donor and, in the view of most, Botticelli himself, standing at the front on the right. The painting was celebrated for the variety of the angles from which the faces are painted, and of their expressions.<ref>Lightbown, 65–69; Vasari, 150–152; Hartt, 324–325.</ref>

A large [[fresco]] for the customs house of Florence, that is now lost, depicted the execution by [[hanging]] of the leaders of the [[Pazzi conspiracy]] of 1478 against the Medici. It was a Florentine custom to humiliate traitors in this way, by the so-called "''[[pittura infamante]]''".<ref>Ettlingers, 10.</ref> This was Botticelli's first major fresco commission (apart from the abortive Pisa excursion), and may have led to his summons to Rome. The figure of [[Francesco Salviati (bishop)|Francesco Salviati, Archbishop of Pisa]] was removed in 1479, after protests from the Pope, and the rest were destroyed after the expulsion of the Medici and return of the [[Pazzi family]] in 1494.<ref>Hartt, 325–326; Ettlingers, 10; Dempsey.</ref> Another lost work was a [[tondo (art)|tondo]] of the Madonna ordered by a Florentine banker in Rome to present to Cardinal [[Francesco Gonzaga (1444–1483)|Francesco Gonzaga]]; this perhaps spread awareness of his work to Rome. A fresco in the [[Palazzo Vecchio]], headquarters of the Florentine state, was lost in the next century when Vasari remodelled the building.<ref>Lightbown, 70.</ref>

In 1480 the Vespucci family commissioned a fresco figure of ''[[Saint Augustine in His Study (Botticelli, Ognissanti)|Saint Augustine]]'' for the Ognissanti, their parish church, and Botticelli's. Someone else, probably the order running the church,<ref>Lightbown, 77.</ref> commissioned [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]] to do a facing ''[[Saint Jerome in His Study (Ghirlandaio)|Saint Jerome]]''; both saints were shown writing in their studies, which are crowded with objects. As in other cases, such direct competition "was always an inducement to Botticelli to put out all his powers", and the fresco, now his earliest to survive, is regarded as his finest by [[Ronald Lightbown]].<ref>Lightbown, 73–78, 74 quoted.</ref> The open book above the saint contains one of the practical jokes for which Vasari says he was known. Most of the "text" is scribbles, but one line reads: "Where is Brother Martino? He went out. And where did he go? He is outside Porta al Prato", probably dialogue overheard from the [[Humiliati|Umiliati]], the order who ran the church. Lightbown suggests that this shows Botticelli thought "the example of Jerome and Augustine likely to be thrown away on the Umiliati as he knew them".<ref>Lightbown, 77 (different translation to same effect).</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Sandro botticelli, pala di sant'ambrogio, 1470 ca. 01.jpg|''Sant'Ambrogio Altarpiece,'' {{circa|1470–72}}, [[Uffizi]], Florence, a [[sacra conversazione]]
File:Sandro Botticelli - St Sebastian - WGA2706.jpg|''[[St. Sebastian (Botticelli)|St. Sebastian]]'', 1474, [[Gemäldegalerie]], Berlin
File:Sandro Botticelli - Mary with the Child and Singing Angels - Google Art Project.jpg|''Madonna with Lilies and Eight Angels'', {{circa|1478}}, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
File:Sandro Botticelli 050.jpg|Fresco ''[[Saint Augustine in His Study (Botticelli, Ognissanti)|Saint Augustine]],'' 1480, [[Ognissanti, Florence|Ognissanti]], Florence
</gallery>