. Great pictures, as seen and described by famous writers. eared atthe court of the Medici by the same causes that promptus to seek them \ they are the fruit of a society that hasattained the highest degree of well-being, wealth andknowledge. This kind of art lasted only for a moment in is correct to say that Florentine art did not seem des-tined to speak the charms of feminine beauty. From itsbeginning, this school had been stamped by Giotto withthe philosophic impress, and for two centuries its artistshad been before everything else, thinkers, occupied morewith moral ideas than w
. Great pictures, as seen and described by famous writers. eared atthe court of the Medici by the same causes that promptus to seek them \ they are the fruit of a society that hasattained the highest degree of well-being, wealth andknowledge. This kind of art lasted only for a moment in is correct to say that Florentine art did not seem des-tined to speak the charms of feminine beauty. From itsbeginning, this school had been stamped by Giotto withthe philosophic impress, and for two centuries its artistshad been before everything else, thinkers, occupied morewith moral ideas than with the beauty of form. The first in Florence to be enthralled by the charm ofbeautiful eyes was the poor Filippo Lippi. It was he whocreated that new form of art which was to continue withBotticelli, his pupil, and which attained its perfection underthe hands of Leonardo. If, to the Lucrezia Buti of FilippoLippi, we join Botticellis Simonetta and Leonardos MonnaLisa, we should have the poem of love sung by Florentinegenius under its most exquisite SPRING 315 What Botticelli was, Spring will tell us ; and this workis so significant, its essence expresses the thought of themaster so clearly that it has preserved all its charm for us,although its particular meaning is not known to us. Wecall it Spring, but if one of the figures in the picture reallyrepresents Spring, it is only an accessory figure; and,moreover, this name given to the picture is entirelymodern. Vasari says that it represents Venus surrounded bythe Graces, but if we find the three Graces in the picture,it is not likely that the principal figure represents my opinion, it is that principal figure that is the key tothe picture ; it is for this figure that everything has beendone, and this it is, above all, that we must interrogate ifwe wish to know Botticellis meaning. Evidently it isneither Venus, nor Spring ; and the precision of the fea-tures, and the fidelity of the smallest details of the costume
Size: 1273px × 1963px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublish, booksubjectpainting
