Editing Sandro Botticelli (section)

==Mythological subjects of the 1480s==
[[File:Botticelli-primavera.jpg|thumb|400px|''[[Primavera (painting)|Primavera]],'' c. 1482, icon of the springtime renewal of the Florentine Renaissance. Left to right: [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]], the [[Charites|Three Graces]], [[Venus (goddess)|Venus]], [[Flora (goddess)|Flora]], [[Chloris (nymph)|Chloris]], [[Zephyrus]]]]. [[Uffizi]], Florence
[[File:Sandro Botticelli - La nascita di Venere - Google Art Project - edited.jpg|thumb|400px|''[[The Birth of Venus]],'' c. 1485, Uffizi, Florence]]
The masterpieces ''[[Primavera (painting)|Primavera]]'' (c. 1482) and ''[[The Birth of Venus (Botticelli)|The Birth of Venus]]'' (c. 1485) are not a pair, but are inevitably discussed together; both are in the [[Uffizi]]. They are among the most famous paintings in the world, and icons of the [[Italian Renaissance]]. As depictions of subjects from [[classical mythology]] on a very large scale they were virtually unprecedented in Western art since classical antiquity. Together with the smaller and less celebrated [[Venus and Mars (Botticelli)|''Venus and Mars'']] and ''[[Pallas and the Centaur]]'', they have been endlessly analysed by art historians, with the main themes being: the emulation of ancient painters and the context of wedding celebrations, the influence of [[Renaissance Neoplatonism]], and the identity of the commissioners and possible models for the figures.<ref>Covered at length in: Lightbown, ch. 7 & 8; Wind, ch. V, VII and VIII; Ettlingers, ch. 3; Dempsey; Hartt, 329–334.</ref>

Though all carry differing degrees of complexity in their meanings, they also have an immediate visual appeal that accounts for their enormous popularity. All show dominant and beautiful female figures in an idyllic world of feeling, with a sexual element. Continuing scholarly attention mainly focuses on the poetry and philosophy of contemporary [[Renaissance humanist]]s. The works do not illustrate particular texts; rather, each relies upon several texts for its significance. Their beauty was characterized by Vasari as exemplifying "grace" and by [[John Ruskin]] as possessing linear rhythm. The pictures feature Botticelli's linear style at its most effective, emphasized by the soft continual contours and pastel colours.<ref name=Lightbown/>

The ''Primavera'' and the ''Birth'' were both seen by Vasari in the mid-16th century at the [[Villa di Castello]], owned from 1477 by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, and until the publication in 1975 of a Medici inventory of 1499,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/botticel/5allegor/20pallas.html|title=Web Gallery of Art, searchable fine arts image database|website=www.wga.hu|access-date=December 7, 2020|archive-date=August 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807020027/https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?%2Fhtml%2Fb%2Fbotticel%2F5allegor%2F20pallas.html|url-status=live}}.</ref> it was assumed that both works were painted specifically for the villa. In the second half of the last century scholarship suggested otherwise: the ''Primavera'' was painted for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco's townhouse in Florence, with ''Pallas and the Centaur'' as its companion piece. ''The Birth of Venus'' was commissioned by someone else for a different site.<ref>Lightbown, 122–123; 152–153; Smith, Webster, "On the Original Location of the Primavera", ''[[The Art Bulletin]]'', vol. 57, no. 1, 1975, pp. 31–40. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3049335 JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401123928/http://www.jstor.org/stable/3049335 |date=April 1, 2016 }}.</ref>

[[File:Venus and Mars National Gallery.jpg|thumb|400px|''[[Venus and Mars (Botticelli)|Venus and Mars]]'', c. 1485, tempera on panel, {{convert|69|x|173|cm|2|abbr=on}}, [[National Gallery]], London]]
Botticelli painted only a small number of mythological subjects, but these are now probably his best known works. A much smaller panel than those discussed before is his ''[[Venus and Mars (Botticelli)|Venus and Mars]]'' in the National Gallery, London. This was of a size and shape to suggest that it was a ''[[spalliera]]'', a painting made to fit into either furniture, or more likely in this case, wall panelling. The wasps buzzing around Mars' head suggest that it may have been painted for a member of his neighbours the Vespucci family, whose name means "little wasps" in Italian, and who featured wasps in their coat of arms. Mars lies asleep, presumably after lovemaking, while Venus watches as infant [[satyr]]s play with his military gear, and one tries to rouse him by blowing a [[conch shell]] in his ear. The painting was no doubt given to celebrate a marriage, and decorate the bedchamber.<ref>Lightbown, 164–168; Dempsey; Ettlingers, 138–141, with a later date.</ref>

Three of these four large mythologies feature [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], a central figure in Renaissance Neoplatonism, which gave divine love as important a place in its philosophy as did Christianity. The fourth, ''[[Pallas and the Centaur]]'' is clearly connected with the Medici by the symbol on Pallas' dress. The two figures are roughly life-size, and a number of specific personal, political or philosophic interpretations have been proposed to expand on the basic meaning of the submission of passion to reason.<ref>Lightbown, 148–152; Legouix, 113.</ref>

A series of panels in the form of an ''spalliera'' or ''[[cassone]]'' were commissioned from Botticelli by Antonio Pucci in 1483 on the occasion of the marriage of his son Giannozzo with Lucrezia Bini. The subject was the story of ''[[Nastagio degli Onesti]]'' from the eighth novel of the fifth day of [[Giovanni Boccaccio|Boccaccio]]'s ''[[The Decameron|Decameron]]'', in four panels. The coats of arms of the Medici and the bride and groom's families appear in the third panel.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scenes from the Story of Nastagio degli Onesti |type=Collection |publisher=[[Museo Nacional del Prado]], Madrid |url=https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/scenes-from-the-story-of-nastagio-degli-onesti/6620fb36-c65d-497b-8283-92cef5bc08de|access-date=2021-01-08}}.</ref>