Botticelli, an essential Renaissance artist! On the occasion of the exhibition dedicated to him at the Musée Jacquemart-André, Botticelli, Artist & Designer, the editors of Sortiraparis looked at the various works by the painter around the world, and in particular those that have found their way into a museum in Paris. So you can see Botticelli without having to go to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence or the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin! An overview of the museums...
All the works in Paris are to be found in two renowned institutions. Five are housed in the Musée du Louvre (many of which are in the storerooms, out of sight), and two are on display in the Musée Jacquemart André, as part of the permanent collection.
These include two frescoes in the Musée du Louvre, the only two works by Sandro Botticelli on display in the museum: Venus and the Graces Offering Gifts to a Young Girl, and A Young Man Presented by Venus (?) to the Seven Liberal Arts. These two works are located in theDenon wing, at the entrance to the Italian paintings department, on the left after the Victory of Samothrace (Room 706 - Percier et Fontaine).
These two frescoes - along with a third that was left behind, too damaged and partly destroyed - were originally on the walls of a room on the second floor of the Villa Lemmi, owned by the Tornabuoni family between 1469 and 1541. Art historians are still debating the interpretation of these paintings, in particular as regards the identification of the two young people who, according to most historians, are either Lorenzo Tornabuoni and Giovanna degli Albizzi, who married in 1486, or Lorenzo Tornabuoni and Ginevra Gianfiliazzi, his second wife.
The Musée du Louvre also holds three paintings by the Italian master in its collections, not on display to visitors: The Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist, Portrait of a Young Man and Scenes from the Story of Esther (here, Esther chosen by Ahasuerus).
Two other works can also be seen in the permanent collections of the Musée Jacquemart-André: a Madonna and Child, in the Florentine room, and The Flight into Egypt, in the Venetian room. Both works can be seen as soon as you enter the museum. The former has been belatedly attributed to Botticelli (it was originally attributed to Verrochio), and stands out for the simplicity of its composition: the Virgin Mary holding Christ upright on a velvet-covered stool, without landscape or decoration. The work's finesse of execution and the particularly serene expression on the faces lend a certain gentleness to the whole.
The Flight into Egypt represents this emblematic biblical episode. Traditionally seated on the donkey in depictions by other artists such as Titian or Carpaccio, Mary is shown here standing with the Child in her arms, right next to the donkey grazing on the grass.
Two good excuses, in any case, to take a tour of the permanent collections after discovering the superb Botticelli exhibition. And if not, we'd still advise you to visit the Uffizi Gallery in Florence one day during your next vacation, to discover the artist's two best-known paintings (and probably the two most beautiful): The Birth of Venus and Spring, both exhibited in the same room. And don't hesitate to make a detour into the museum to discover another of his emblematic works, Pallas and the Centaur. Enjoy your visit!
Botticelli in five key dates:
- March 1445: birth in Florence
- 1464-1467: Botticelli makes his debut in Filippo Lippi's workshop in Prato, working on the final frescoes of the Lives of Saint Stephen and Saint John the Baptist.
- Around 1475: completion of The Adoration of the Magi
- Between 1477 and 1484: completion of Spring, then Birth of Venus
- May 1510: Botticelli dies in Florence, at his home in Via della Porcellenna.
