Botticelli: Allegory of Spring

56 Pages·2000·12.57 MB·English

by  Federico Zeri

M^

BEL-TIB J ROOM
J 759.4 Botti- celli
Botticelli the allegory
:
of spring
31111021559818
FEDERICO ZERI (Rome, 1921-1998), eminentart his-
torian and critic, was vice-president of the National
CouncilforCultural and EnvironmentalTreasuresfrom
1993. MemberoftheAcademiedesBeaux-ArtsinParis,
hewasdecoratedwiththeLegionofHonorbytheFrench
govermnent. Author of numerous artistic and literary
publications;amongthemostwell-knovm:Pitturaecon
troriforma,theCatalogueofItalianPaintersintheMet-
ropolitan Museum ofNewYork and theWalters Gallery
ofBaltimora,andthebookConfessochehosbagliato.
Work edited by FEDERICO ZERI
Text
based onthe interviews between
FedericoZeri and Marco Dolcetta
This edition is published forNorthAmerica in 2000 byNDE Pubhshing*
ChiefEditor of2000 EngUsh Language Edition
Elena Mazour {NDEPublishing*)
English Translation
SiisAN Scon
Realization
Ultreya, Milan
Editing
Lmira Chiara Colombo, Ultreya, Milan
Desktop Publishing
Elisa Ghiotto
ISBN 1-55321-014-X
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BOTTICELU
THE ALLEGORY OF
SPRING
Nature, such an important presence in Renaissance art, is
THE ALLEGORY OF SPRING
celebrated in with a
proftision of light and color This painting is among the
most mysterious in all the history ofart, and scholars have
long tried to unlock its arcane secrets. Even after the
various personages have been identified, the overall
meaning remains uncertain. Tlie expression of a
still
culture imbued with symbolic and allegorical allusions like
that ofthe fifteenth century, the painting lends itselfto the
most varied hypotheses for interpretation.
A
GARDEN OF
DELIGHTS
FOR CULTURE
THE ALLEGORY OF SPRING
C.1482
•
Florence, Uffizi (tempera
on panel, 314 x 203 cm)
•
This title, by which the work
hasbeenknown for some time, is
based on Vasari's description:
whom
"Venus, the Graces are cov-
eringwith flowers, as a symbol of
spring".TTie subjectofthisrefined,
cerebral painting is difficuk to interpret. Scholars have strug-
gledfordecadesto elaboratetheoriesto explain everydetailofthe
picture, but no one has yet succeeded in revealing its meaning
completely.
•
Itisnoteven certain exactlywho commissioned thework, but
the person who ordered the painting from Alessandro Filipepi,
called Sandro Botticelli, hadtohavebeenamemberoftherichand
powerfiil MedicifamilyThe presence ofTheAllegoryofSpringin
theirvillaatCastello hasinthepastledhistoriansto concludethat
the patron was Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, the cousin ofLorenzo
the Magnificent, and thatthe workwas painted before Botticelli
wentto Rome. Now, the tendency is to thinkthat TJieAllegory of
SpringwascommissionedbyLorenzo the Magnificentforthewed-
ding ofhis cousin Lorenzo to SemiramideAppiani, and thusthat
itwas painted around 1482.
In this case, the recently offered interpreta-
I
tion, which holdsthata Latin textbyMartianus
CapellaentitledDenuptiisMercuriietPhilologiae
Irs
contains a description of the subject repre-
^- sented here, isinlinewiththe occasionwhich
seems to have generated the painting. This
late Roman text was known in the Middle
AgesandRenaissance, asitwas studied in
'j^ ..^^^^^^A. schools ofrhetoric.
THE PATRON in his Adoration ofthe
ANDTHFwlRTIST Magi in the Uffizi.
i At left is Above, Portrait
1 Botticelli's ofLorenzothe
presumed Magnificent
self-portrait. by Giorgio Vasari
as it appears (Florence, Uffizi).

ANALYSIS OF THE WORK: THE CHARACTERS
A HARMONY
OF
SINGLE FIGURES
The search forthe beautiful as avalue in itself, thatis pro- Nextto her is another female figure (the goddess Flora) wear-
duced by art, places Botticelli on a different plane from ing a flowered dress and carrying flowers, which she scatters
hiscontemporaries Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, as she walks. In the center a standing figure makes a gesture
who considered art to be a means ofinvestigation and knowl- ofbenediction: she is the goddess Venus who, with her head
edge ofnature and history. Botticelli-in this sense he belongs tilted slightly to one side, looks out ofthe picture, with Cupid
more to the fifteenth than the sixteenth century - aims in his flying above her aboutto shoot an arrow at one ofthe dancers
work at elaborating a philosophy which unites art, thought, in the trio below. On the left, the dancinggroup ofwomen wear-
and poetry. This is the source ofthe real difficulty in interpret- ingveiled garments is easily identified as the three Graces. On
ing some ofhisworks, as is the casewith TheAllegoryofSpring. the farleft Mercury, covered onlyby a red chlamys, lifts his ca-
• Afirst look at the panel - which should be read from right duceus toward the top ofthe trees to dispel the clouds.
to left - allows us to approach the nine figures present in the • The scene takes place in a thickwoods; ablue-gray light fil-
scene, who appear in perfectharmony but not connected with ters through from the back, allowing us to gUmpse a veiled
each other. Zephyrus, the wind ofspring, grabs a nude woman panorama on the far edge ofthe horizon. A meadow embroi-
clad only in thinveils-the nymph Chloris- and weds her: flow- dered with a profusion of flowers forms the soft carpet on
ers stream out of the mouth of the impregnated goddess. which the figures move.
mi/'v^^"-
^»^
THETRANSMUTATION
Thewood nymph ?. *
Chloris, seized and
impregnated bythe
westwind Zephyrus,
the wind ofspring, v?/
is transformed into
agoddess, Flora,
the bearerofspring.
In a passagefrom
Ovid's Fasti, Chloris
states: "I was Chloris,
who am nowcalled
Flora." Given the
learned and refined
sphere inwhich
Botticelli moved, itis
highlyprobable thatthis
isthe literarysourcefor
the representation.
¥&A
\m
ANALYSIS OF THE WORK: THE CHARACTERS
THEANGEUC frequently cited AngelsMusicians (1447-
SHARPSHOOTER genealogies in the 54) in theTempio
Cupid flies above literary sources - Malatestiano in Rimini,
Venus's head, thus puts the figure of the work ofthe
blindfolded and ready Venus in relationship Florentine sculptor
to shoot his burning with all the figures Agostino di Duccio,
arrow toward on the left side ofthe ofwhich a section is
the central figure of painting: Mercury shown at right.
the Graces: Chastity. and the Graces. The linear rhythm
The chubby littie god From an exclusively which empties the
oflove - the son stylistic point ofview, shapes oftheirvolume
ofAphrodite and a precedentfor is the elementwhich
Hermes, according to Botticelli's Cupid more than any other
one ofthe most can be found in the unites the two works.