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*w Wm*'x5.,,{x&ex,.{K*W},s.or' 1g I srr Lucrr GonuaN Wg--,affg*xi',,,.-3 K* gxuffx ffi**xYg*-xg-fl,r IN FTT EENTH-CENTURYFTORENCE n until January15 at the Scuderie who showed to the moderns the new or stablesof Rome's Quirinal methodof giving variety to vestments, Palace,once the Popes' summer and embellishedand adornedhis figures palace,is Filippino Lippi and Botticelli in with the girt-up garmentsof antiquity.He Fifteenth-CenturyFlorence. It's an ap- was also the first to bring to light propriate sequel to last month's "Of grotesques,in imitation of the antique, Books, Art, and People" titTedCelebrat- and executedthem on friezes in terretta ing RenaissanceArt and Artists, because or in colors,with more designand grace Vasari,the subjectof one of last month's than the men before him had shown; four reviewedexhibitions, included bi- whereforeit was a man'relousthing to see ographiesof both SandroBotticelli and the strangefancies that he expressedin Filippino Lippi in his famousllves of Re- painting.What is more,he neverexecuted naissanceartists. a single work in which he did not avail Of Botticelli (1447-1510),Vasari himself with great diligenceof Roman wrote: "...Although he found it easyto antiquities...andsuch a varietyof other leam whateverhe wished,nevertheless he beautiful things,that we owe him a great was ever restless,nor was he contented andperpetual obligation...." with any form of learning,whether read- As the exhibition'sopening wall panel ing, writing, or arithmetic,insomuch that explains,during the secondhalf of the fif- his father,weary of the vagariesof his teenthcentury, from 1434to 1494specifi- son'sbrain, in despairapprenticed him as cally,in Florenceall powerwas in the con- a goldsmithwith a boon-companionof trol of the Medici family: first, Cosimothe Elder(Florence 1389-1464), succeeded by his own, called Botticello, no meanmas- FilippinoLippi, irhe Madannain Adorationaf the Chist ter of that art in his day. Now in that age Child,1478, Florence, Uftizi, is the logoof the exhibition. his son Pierothe Gouty (Florence1416- of theMagi, 1475'76, therewas a very closeconnection... be- Below,Sandro Botticelli, Adoration 1469) and followed by his grandson Florence.Uffizi tween the goldsmiths and the Lorenzothe Magnificent(Florence painters;wherefore Sandro,who 1449-1492).Their supportwas the was a readyfellow andhad devoted determiningfactor in politics, in himself wholly to design,became business.and in thearts, for receiv- enamoredof painting, and deter- ing both public and Privatecom- minedto devotehimself to that.For missions.The Medicis' favorite this reasonhe spokeout his mind artist at this time was Andrea del ireely to his father.who. recogniz- Venocchio (Florence1435-Venice ing the inclinationof his brain, took 1488),who enjoyedtheir patron- him to Fra Filippo of the Carmine,a age.He was ownerof a successful just most excellentpainter of that time, bottegaor workshop behind with whom he placedhim to learn the cathedral where sculPtors, the afi, accordingto Sandro'sown painters,and goldsmithswere aP- desire.Thereupon, devoting himself prenticed,including young Leonar- heart and soul to that art, Sandro do da Vinci (Vinci 1452-Amboise followed and imitatedhis masterso 1519).and the brothersAntonio well that Fra Filippo, growing to love him, taught him very thor- (Florence143l-Rome 1498) and Piero del Pollaiolo(Florence 1441- oughly, so that he soonrose to sucha rank as nonewould haveex- Rome 1496),who later owned their own workshopactive in gold- pectedfor him." smithing,sculpture, and painting under the protectionofLorenzo the Of Filippino Lippi (1457-1504)Vasari wrote: "..'a painterof Magnificent.Against the backgroundof thesemultifaceted work- most beautifulintelligence and most lovely invention...such was shopsable to satisfythe needsof a demandingclientele like the Flo- the intelligenceof Filippo, and so abundanthis inventionin paint- rentines,we mustplace Sandro Botticelli right at thebeginning of his ins. and so bizarreand new werehis onlaments,that he u asthe first career.He was soonalso favored by the Medici. IIISIDE IHE VAIICATiI DECEMBER2OtT The year 1481 was a turning point; Leonardowent to Milan; Maria SopraMinerva for this powerful NeapolitanDominican car- Venocchiowas engagedon the Colleoni monumentin Venice,and dinal. thanksto Lorenzothe Magnificent'srecommendation. the Pollaiolo brotherson papal tombs in Rome. Meanwhile other At the end of the fifteenth century,a strong supporterof the new artists appeared on the Florentine scene: Domenico deeplymoralistic monk Savonarola,Botticelli's starwas setting fol- Ghirlandaio(Florence 1449-1494) and his family workshopled the lowing an existentialand religious crisis that compromisedhis field in frescoes.Pietro Perugino(CittI della Pieve,c.1450-Fontig- artisticproduction and the chanceof new commissions.On the con- nano 1523)settled permanently in Florencein 1493and was high- trary, appreciatedby the Medici and their supportersespecially for ly appreciatedin the city for his paintingsof sacredsubjects, and his mythologicalsubjects as well as by Savonarolaand the Repub- Filippino Lippi becameincreasingly popular in the first decadeof licansfor his religioussubjects, Filippino was evermore successful the 1500s,while Botticelli,in thethroes and receivednumerous prestlglous pro- of a religious and artistic crisis, under- jects in Prato, Pavia, Bologna, and went an inexorabledecline. Also active Genoa.When he died prematurelyat the in the first yearsof the 1500swere Raf- heightof his careerin 1504, all the artis- faellino del Garbo (Florence?c. 1410- tic workshopsin Florencewere closed after 1527), formerly a collaborator of for a day of public mourning.Botticelli Lippi's in Rome, and Piero di Cosimo died six yearslater, a sick and debt-rid- (Florence 146112-1521),a bizane and den pauper. whimsical artist of fantasticalchamber The exhibition,divided into six sec- paintings. tions: "Fra Filippo del Carmine, His Since the exhibition revolves more Father and First Teacher( 14 57 - I 469)," aroundFilippino Lippi than around his "sandro's Friend. In the Workshopof father'sbest student,Botticelli, the visi- Botticelli(1472-1478)," "His First In- tor is told about young Lippi's child- dependentInitiatives and Then Under hood and youth. He was born in Prato the Protection of Lorenzo the Magnit'i- around 1457,though the exact date is cent(1478-1488)," "The Chapelfor Fil- ippo Stroui in SantaMaria Novella uncertain.the result of an illicit tryst FilippinoLippi, Apparitian of theVirgin to St.Bernard, Florence, betweenFra or CarmeliteBrother BadiaFiorentina, isLippi's most popular painting. and OtherWorks (1483-1485)," "In Filippo Lippi (Florence1406-Spole- Below,Filippo Lippi's lhe Madonnaand Child With Stories frzm the Rome, His Studiesof Antiquity and Lifeaf St.Anne, Pitti Palace, Florence, opens the exhibition to 1469), a distinguished and ad- the Frescoesfor the Carafa Chapel mired painter,and the Augustiniannun Lucrezia Buti. (1485-1494),"and "His l-ast Years,Among Mytholog- NicknamedFilippino to distinguishhim from his ical Fantasiesand ReligiousPaintings (1494' father, he worked alongsidehis parent on the 1504)" and shown in chronologicalorder, frescoesin Spoleto'scathedral and soon be- openswith the elder Lippi's Madonna and came an artist of the first rank. At his fa- ChildWirh Srcriesfrom the Lfe of St.Anne ther's deathin1469, youngLippi complet- | ((1452)on Ioan from Florence'sPitti ed the frescoesand enteredBotticelli's Palace,and ends with Filippino's many workshop.Again, right from the start,the late religious works. In between,Filip- young artist'sro1e, to judge from his ear- pino's works are in constantcomparison ly production,was not that of a mere ap- with thoseof Botticelli. They also show prentice.He soonbegan to collaborateon Filippino's influenceon Rafaellinodel an equalfooting with works permeatedby Garbo and Piero di Cosimo.It's notewor- a melancholy grace and a capricious rest- thy that in their early works Botticelli painr lessnessthat distinguishedthem from the style ed large figures and Lippi small figures as if of his master,although until recentlymany of his for bordersor background;in their later works early works were attributedto Botticelli. Between their styles reverse;Botticelli's figures are small the 1470sand the beginningof the 1480s,Filippino andLippi's almostlife-size. branchedout on his own, obtainingin 1483 the covetedjob of This exhibition aimsto emphasizeFilippino's greatnessand completingthe frescoesof the BrancacciChapel in the Church of worthinessof an critic BernardBemenson's attribution of "Friend the Carminein Florencebegun by Masolini and Massaccio.While of Sandro."His panelsof glazedcolors, some of themlike the "Ner- Botticelli, before and after his work on the SistineChapel, was in- li Altarpiece"(commissionedin 1494 for the Churchof SantoSpir- creasinglyin demandwith the Medici and their supporlers,Filip- ito in Florence)restored for this occasionand displayedhere in its pino madea namefor himself,frstly outsideFlorence in Luccaand original shininggold frame;his refrneddrawings on coloredpapers, San Gimignano,and then again in Florencewith the Strozzi (the masterpiecesin their own right; and his studiesfor decoration'the family chapelin SantaMaria Novella) and del Pugliese(The Ap- fruits of his inexhaustibleand whimsical imagination, allow the vis- parition of the Virgin to St. Bernard) families, then again in his itor to rediscovera leadingfigure on the artisticscene of his day,the hometown of Prato, and finally in Rome, where in 1488, he ob- creatorof astonishingmodernity, unfairly overshadoweduntil now tainedthe commissionto paint the CarafaChapel in Rome's Santa by Botticelli. C DECEMBER2OI T IIISIDI IIIE VAIICAN 5l.