Under the Medici 2

Question 1

Man with a Medal by Sandro Botticelli

Answer 1

1470 in Florence

• Botticelli was an apprentice of Fra Fillipo Lippi
• The man holds a medal with a picture of Cosimo de Medici
• The medal tells that the man greatly respected the Medici
• Currently in the Uffizi Gallery
• The medal is executed in raised gilded gesso

Question 2

Primavera by Sandro Botticelli

Answer 2

1482 in Florence

• Commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici
• Primavera means Spring in Italian and the painting is a seasonal representation of Spring
• There are no more than 42 representations of Spring flowers in the painting
• The central figure is Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, and in the context of the painting, marriage
• On the right is the rape of Clorus by Zephr and Clorus is then transformed into Flora, the goddess of Spring

Question 3

Birth of Venus by Botticelli

Answer 3

1484-86 in Florence

• Depicts the legendary birth of Venus after Uranus’s severed genitals were tossed into the ocean
• Botticelli painted another piece entitled Venus Pudica (modest Venus) which uses the same pose as the one in Birth of Venus
• Commissioned by the Medici Palace
• The pose from both paintings originates from a Hellenistic sculpture of Venus, the Medici Venus
• Currently in the Uffizi gallery

Question 4

Annunciation by Botticelli

Answer 4

1489-90 in Florence

• The lillies Gabriel holds is a symbol of Mary’s purity
• Commissioned by Benedetto di Ser Francesco Guardi del Cane
• Made for the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi
• In the frame at bottom is an image of Jesus rising out of this tomb

Question 5

Lamentation by Botticelli

Answer 5

late 1490s in Florence

• Currently in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, Germany
• St. Jerome is the only non biblical saint in the painting