The art of the Pitti Palace : with a short history of the building of the palace, and its owners, and an appreciation of its treasures . ond floor, where it escapednotice. Mr. Spence, a noted artist, collector, andcritic, was visiting the Duke dAosta at the Pittia few years ago, and, as he passed through a room,known as the Volterrano apartment, he observedthe great picture hanging there, and at once ex-claimed that it must be a Botticelli. He called theMarchese Enrico Ridolfi into consultation, and,after a minute examination, they decided that itwas unquestionably the lost Botticelli. The pic
The art of the Pitti Palace : with a short history of the building of the palace, and its owners, and an appreciation of its treasures . ond floor, where it escapednotice. Mr. Spence, a noted artist, collector, andcritic, was visiting the Duke dAosta at the Pittia few years ago, and, as he passed through a room,known as the Volterrano apartment, he observedthe great picture hanging there, and at once ex-claimed that it must be a Botticelli. He called theMarchese Enrico Ridolfi into consultation, and,after a minute examination, they decided that itwas unquestionably the lost Botticelli. The picture is a very beautiful composition, andthe colouring, although the vehicle is tempera, isas deep and rich as an oil painting. The exquisitelydecorative shade of the blue in the sky is especiallynoteworthy. Pallas is represented as a youngwoman, with a more regular type of beauty thanthat often chosen by this artist, and the flutteringof her light draperies suggest that she has justalighted upon the earth. Her type is rather intel-lectual, although of a cheerful sort, by no meansas severe as the classic ideal of Minerva. She car-. PALLAS AND THE CENTAUR By Botticelli; in the Royal Apartments I XTbe IRopal Bpartments 367 ries a halberd in a disinterested way, and a shieldis slung on her back, but the only warlike suggestionabout her is the firm clutch with which she seizesthe hair of the centaur. Intellectual triumph —calm and peaceful — over brute force is evidentlythe intention of the painting. Authorities claimthat it was painted to symbolize the securing ofpeace between the Pope and Florence by a triplealliance in 1480, when Lorenzo de Medici visitedthe king at Naples and made this agreement pos-sible. The dress of Pallas is most exquisite in its ethe-real quality, clinging tenderly to her body, andbound the closer on the arms and breast by slim,twining olive-branches. The device of Lorenzo,linked rings in groups of threes and fours, are dis-posed at intervals in the te
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Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectpainting, bookyear190
