The Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco is presenting an exhibition of drawings by the renowned Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli, showcasing his exceptional talent as a draughtsman. The show, “Botticelli’s Drawings,” features sketches, studies, and finished drawings by the master.
More than 60 of Botticelli’s works have been gathered from 39 lending institutions as well as private collections worldwide for this groundbreaking exhibit, the most extensive collection of his work ever shown in one museum.
A Master’s Drawings
Through drawings, we can better understand an artist’s mind and what he or she was thinking. While drawings are often studies used to set up and design a more important artwork, Botticelli’s drawings stand on their own as great works of art, especially in how the artist uses line. Furio Rinaldi, curator of the Botticelli exhibit, said, “His fluency of line ... is what constitutes his most important legacy.”
The artist’s mastery of the line captures movement in his drawings. This can be seen in works such as “Studies for the Figure of St. Augustine” and “Studies for the Figure of St. Jerome,” where Botticelli captures the dynamic movement of the figures with great finesse.
The artist’s delicate lines give expression to the rendering of the human figure. His figures are often depicted in motion and display a remarkable sense of grace and fluidity, revealing the movement of the human body under sheer fabrics. This can be seen in the fragment of the “Onlookers” fragment from a drawing of the “Adoration of The Magi.” The drape and flow of the fabrics over the moving bodies is a critical point of his study of figures and movement.
Botticelli was commissioned to create a series of illustrations for Dante’s classic poem, which he worked on for several years. He worked on three sections of the poem: “Inferno,” “Purgatorio,” and “Paradiso,” and these sketches or preparatory cartoons demonstrate Botticelli’s talent for capturing the emotional depth and complexity of Dante’s work.
The show included several works that have never been exhibited before. These include a drawing of “A Standing Young Man With His Arm Raised,” which paved the way for his other studies in nudes. One of his most accomplished figure studies was of a female reclining nude. This piece is remarkable for its meticulous attention to detail and use of light and shadow to create a sense of depth and dimensionality.
Light and shadow played an essential part in Botticelli’s sketches. Numerous studies and sketches were done before his final works were complete in order to study every angle and every lighting effect. His attention to detail can also be noted in his drawings and paintings of women with long hair.
One could study Botticelli’s delicate drawing of the hair ornaments alone; these show how he carefully arranged them to focus on the lady’s tresses. A full study of the treatment of hair by Emanuele Lugli of Stanford University was presented at a symposium at the Legion of Honor museum to address how hair was used as more than a tool for realism.
The exhibition also includes a selection of Botticelli’s portrait drawings, which offer a fascinating glimpse into the personalities and social classes of Renaissance Florence. These portraits are notable for their realism and psychological insight, demonstrating Botticelli’s ability to capture the essence of his subjects in just a few lines.
It is believed that many of Botticelli’s works were destroyed during a blaze known as the “bonfire of the vanities” in 1497; this fire occurred in the center of Florence, where items of personal indulgence or extravagance, including makeup, clothing, books, mirrors, and artworks, were destroyed. Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola was in charge of church affairs in Florence at that time. Once he became the true leader of Florence, he destroyed anything he deemed inappropriate.
Despite the renown he enjoyed at the height of interest in his work, Botticelli’s art began to go out of style in the late 16th century. This was due, in part, to his lack of funds and the decline of his workshop. However, even as his fame diminished, he stayed true to the art in his drawings.
By the beginning of the 19th century, he was nearly forgotten. Botticelli’s work was brought back to the world’s attention, especially in England, by a group characterized as “so-called Italian ‘Primitives’ by Pre-Raphaelite painters,” according to Davide Gasparotto of the Getty Museum.
Mr. Gasparotto said that, as museums free to the public began to pop up in the United States, American collectors and museum curators were among the first to seek out the artist’s work.
The Legion of Honor exhibition is a must-see for anyone interested in the art of the Italian Renaissance. The exhibition runs through Feb. 11.
