Botticelli: visions of beauty and violence

Sandro Botticelli was one of the most popular and sought after artists of the Renaissance, renowned for his religious and mythological subjects and the beauty and sensuality of his painting. Working almost exclusively out of Florence, except for a stint in Rome to paint frescos for the Sistine Chapel, the bulk of his output was commissioned work for wealthy patrons such as the powerful Medici family. His friend and benefactor, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, commissioned Botticelli to provide illustrations for a copy of what has been viewed as the greatest ever work of Italian literature - Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Given complete artistic control over the project, Botticelli worked on the drawings between 1480 and 1495, and although they remain unfinished, they are viewed as some of the most enduring examples of his stylistic virtuosity. Working closely with Dante’s text, he painstakingly created illustrations for each section of the poem on fine goatskin parchment, expertly creating a visual interpretation of the poet’s epic passage through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. A selection of art experts discuss the spiritual and political content, historical background and artistic execution of this work, and speculate on what drove this “explorer of beauty” to produce such a unique and animated accompaniment to Dante’s written account of the journey of the soul.