Fortitude (Botticelli)

Last updated
Fortitude
Botticelli - Fortitude - Uffizi.jpeg
Artist Sandro Botticelli
Year1470
MediumTempera on panel
Dimensions167 cm× 87 cm(66 in× 34 in)
Location Uffizi, Florence

Fortitude (Italian: Fortezza) is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli, finished in 1470. Housed in the Galleria degli Uffizi, in Florence, Italy, Fortitude was the first recorded masterpiece by Botticelli.

Contents

This work originally belonged to a set of seven panels representing Virtues, intended to decorate the Tribunal Hall of Palazzo della Signoria in Florence. The other six panels are painted by Piero del Pollaiuolo's workshop. Unlike the other panels in the cycle, painted on cypress wood, the Fortitude is painted on poplar, a more commonly used wood for painting on panels in Tuscany. [1]

The 1.67 x 0.87–meter painting was produced with tempera paint on a wood panel. Tempera paint consists in mixing the dry powdered colors with yolk of egg, slightly thinned with acetic acid or water, instead of mixing the colors with oil or varnish as in the case of oil painting. [2] The colors thus mixed are usually laid on a priming of gesso, though other grounds may be used. [3]

The woman represented in Fortitude could be Lucrezia Donati. [4] [5]

Composition

Upon first glance, the eye is pulled to the most illuminated point of the painting: the face of Fortitude. Her gaze is turned down and away from the observer and because of this, her expression is perceived as passive and uninterested. This was a characteristic feature of Botticelli's female figures. [6] It is a fascinating contrast to the theme of the title because if she represents strength, why does she express otherwise? This work, which is one of seven virtues, was intended to be placed high upon a wall. This would be higher than the eye level of the viewer, therefore requiring them to look upward. In the line-up of all seven paintings of the virtues, Fortitude is the first. Perhaps her gaze is intended to literally and figuratively watch over the other virtues as well as the viewers. Without strength, one can never fathom taking on the other six virtues.

The most striking color in the work is obviously Fortitude's red robe, which is so elegantly draped off one shoulder and laid across her lap. Tempera paint is incapable of producing the hard and cutting edges that occur in oil painting, and this because of a very remarkable property, namely, the comparative transparency of even opaque colors when mixed with yolk of egg. [7] Thus, in some cases, one may find a robe painted in the following manner. [8] The color red, most associated with the extremes of emotion; passionate love, anger, rage, and violence can be symbolic of the strength that we must have when overcoming hardship. The contrast of the soft, flowing folds in her clothing to the harshness in her metallic armor creates an interesting play on themes of masculinity versus femininity. She appears to be regal and delicate while also maintaining vigor and bravery. Strength is not a quality subjective to sex.

The linear perspective of the painting also adds to the regal impression of Fortitude. Having her centered, pushed forward to the picture plane, and sharply lit focuses the viewer solely on the virtue she represents. In early Italy, Fortuna was the name of the goddess who controlled the destiny of every human being. [9] Fortuna was originally “she who brings,” the goddess who permitted the fertilization of humans, animals, and plants; thus was she worshiped by women desiring pregnancy, and the gardeners seeking bumper crops. [10] Though Fortitude's overall complexion is virtually perfect, there is one element of her face that conveys some sort of hardship. This is the discoloration that rests under her eyes. This slight bluish tint transmits a message to the observer that Fortitude has seen misfortune. It adds an element of humanism that is relatable to any passerby that sets their gaze upon this Botticelli piece.

Meaning

To a fifteenth-century audience, the Seven Heavenly Virtues represented a combination of philosophical and religious influences. According to Pseudo-Dionysius, an early Christian writer, the Virtues are "bestowers of grace and valor," represent the "out-pouring of divine energy," and are "possessed of unshakable virility.” [11] During the Renaissance, allegory was used towards the Christian doctrine of salvation. This resulted in a broader application of philosophical systems and social wonders. [12] Botticelli was an admirer of both influences. His works abound with sophisticated reflections of his knowledge and deep appreciation of literature including – besides Dante – the Bible, Livy, Ovid, St. Augustine, Boccaccio, Alberti, and Poliziano. [13] In Renaissance art and culture, personifications that had taken on unclassical appearances during the Middle Ages were restored to classical forms – such as the idealization of the human figure – but also retained some aspects of medieval imagery. [14]  The medieval use of differentiated virtues (virtutes) was replaced by that of Virtue in general (with a recollection of the antique virtus), personified first by Hercules, later (c.1510) as a female figure sitting or standing on a rectangular block to emphasize her stability. [15]  This exact personification can be seen in Botticelli's Fortitude Virtue. Even while sitting, Fortitude has a slight contrapposto in her positioning. Her upper body weight is leaning on one arm while she also has one foot slightly shifted forward than the other. This posture creates a forward-moving energy that seems as if she will rise up from her throne and join the observer viewing her. Botticelli's Virtue also stands out for the different type of marble bench, with its richer engraved decorations. [16]

History

The cycle was for the Tribunal Hall of Piazza della Signoria in Florence. [17] The Tribunale di Mercanzia was the body that decided on the business disputes between Florentine merchants and administered justice among the guilds, known as Arts. [18] Later, these panels would be moved to the Uffizi, when the wealth and heritage of the Renaissance judiciary were absorbed by the Chamber of Commerce in 1777. At the time of their commission in the fifteenth century, the Mercanzia was of prime importance in Florence's economic life. This made the commission extremely prestigious, and the job was sought by many painters. Pollaiolo's understandable protests to Botticelli's involvement, contributed to limiting Botticelli's participation in the commission to this single figure. [19] Botticelli could count on the help of Tommaso Soderini, one of the Mercanzia commissioners, and because of his intrusion, the painters’ guild amended their statutes to protect its members from other outside interference. [20] Soderini was one of the most prominent members historically of an influential Florentine patrician family and was elected as gonfalonier for life in 1502.

Rest of the set

Piero del Pollaiuolo's six paintings, all also now in the Uffizi, were:

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Fortitude," Le Gallerie degli Uffizi
  2. ↑ Fry, “Tempera Painting,” 175.
  3. ↑ Fry, “Tempera Painting,” 175.
  4. ↑ McGowan, Kathleen (July 8, 2010). The Poet Prince . Simon and Schuster. p.  280. ISBN   9780857200167.
  5. ↑ Soares, Átila (June 25, 2014). "Teria Sido Uma Quase Noviça, amante de Leonardo da Vinci?". Fanfulla (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Fortitude," Le Gallerie degli Uffizi.
  7. ↑ Fry, “Tempera Painting,” 175.
  8. ↑ Fry, “Tempera Painting,” 175.
  9. ↑ Monaghan, The Book of Goddesses and Heroines, 110.
  10. ↑ Monaghan, The Book of Goddesses and Heroines, 110.
  11. ↑ Davidson, "The Celestial Virtues," 156.
  12. ↑ “Allegory,” Grove Art Online.
  13. ↑ Stapleford, “Vasari and Botticelli,” 400.
  14. ↑ “Allegory,” Grove Art Online.
  15. ↑ “Allegory,” Grove Art Online.
  16. ↑ “Fortitude,” Le Gallerie degli Uffizi.
  17. ↑ "Fortitude," Le Gallerie degli Uffizi.
  18. ↑ "Fortitude," Le Gallerie degli Uffizi.
  19. ↑ "Fortitude," Le Gallerie degli Uffizi.
  20. ↑ Lugli, “Metamorphic Heads: A Footnote on Botticelli's and Pollaiuolo's Mercanzia Virtues,” 28.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandro Botticelli</span> Italian Renaissance painter (1445–1510)

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli or simply Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, when he was rediscovered by the Pre-Raphaelites who stimulated a reappraisal of his work. Since then, his paintings have been seen to represent the linear grace of late Italian Gothic and some Early Renaissance painting, even though they date from the latter half of the Italian Renaissance period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filippino Lippi</span> Italian painter (1457–1504)

Filippino Lippi was an Italian Renaissance painter mostly working in Florence, Italy during the later years of the Early Renaissance and first few years of the High Renaissance. He also worked in Rome for a period from 1488, and later in the Milan area and Bologna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piero del Pollaiuolo</span> 15th-century Italian Renaissance painter

Piero del Pollaiuolo, whose birth name was Piero Benci, was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. His older brother, by about ten years, was the artist Antonio del Pollaiuolo and the two frequently worked together. Their work shows both classical influences and an interest in human anatomy; according to Vasari, the brothers carried out dissections to improve their knowledge of the subject.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filippo Lippi</span> Italian Renaissance painter (c. 1406–1469)

Filippo Lippi, also known as Lippo Lippi, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Quattrocento and a Carmelite priest. He was an early Renaissance master of a painting workshop, who taught many painters. Sandro Botticelli and Francesco di Pesello were among his most distinguished pupils. His son, Filippino Lippi, also studied under him and assisted in some late works.

<i>Pallas and the Centaur</i> Painting by Sandro Botticelli

Pallas and the Centaur is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, c. 1482. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It has been proposed as a companion piece to his Primavera, though it is a different shape. The medium used is tempera paints on canvas and its size is 207 x 148 cm. The painting has been retouched in many places, and these retouchings have faded.

<i>Madonna of the Pomegranate</i> Painting by Sandro Botticelli

The Madonna of the Pomegranate was painted in circa 1487 with tempera on a wood panel by Sandro Botticelli. It is now in the Uffizi in Florence. Sandro Botticelli was a leading Italian Renaissance artist from Florence, Italy. The Madonna (art) uses the circular format, better known as a tondo, which focuses the attention on the main characters, the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, who are surrounded symmetrically by angels on each side. Botticelli's use of tempera grassa give the characters a real look, better known as a "naturalistic" style, which is common during the Renaissance. The Virgin Mary is holding baby Jesus gently in her arms while holding a pomegranate in her left hand.

<i>Madonna della Loggia</i> (Botticelli) Painting by Sandro Botticelli

The Madonna della Loggia is a painting attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli, dating to c. 1467. A tempera on panel work, it is located in the loggia of Uffizi, Florence, Italy.

<i>Calumny of Apelles</i> (Botticelli) Painting by Sandro Botticelli

The Calumny of Apelles is a panel painting in tempera by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. Based on the description of a lost ancient painting by Apelles, the work was completed in about 1494–95, and is now in the Uffizi, Florence.

<i>Madonna of the Rose Garden</i> (Botticelli) Painting by Sandro Botticelli

The Madonna of the Rose Garden is a tempera on panel painting made by Sandro Botticelli, whose date of between 1469 and 1470 makes it one of his earliest paintings. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

<i>Profile Portrait of a Young Lady</i> 1465 half-length portrait attributed to Antonio del Pollaiuolo

Profile Portrait of a Young Lady is a 1465 half-length portrait, made with oil-based paint and tempera on a poplar panel, usually attributed to Antonio del Pollaiuolo, although the owning museum, the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, now describes this work as by his brother Piero del Pollaiuolo, and as one of its most famous paintings, and as one of the most famous portraits of women from the early Italian Renaissance.

<i>Faith</i> (Pollaiuolo) 1470 painting by Piero del Pollaiuolo

Faith is a 1470 oil on panel painting by Piero del Pollaiuolo, now in the Uffizi in Florence.

<i>Charity</i> (Pollaiuolo) Painting by Piero del Pollaiuolo

Charity is a 1469 oil on panel painting by Piero del Pollaiuolo, now in the Uffizi in Florence.

<i>Prudence</i> (Pollaiuolo) 1470 painting by Piero del Pollaiuolo

Prudence is a 1470 oil on panel painting by Piero del Pollaiuolo, now in the Uffizi in Florence.

<i>Justice</i> (Pollaiuolo) 1470 painting by Piero del Pollaiuolo

Justice is a 1470 oil on panel painting by Piero del Pollaiuolo, now in the Uffizi in Florence.

<i>Hope</i> (Pollaiuolo) 1470 painting by Piero del Pollaiuolo

Hope is a 1470 oil on panel painting by Piero del Pollaiuolo, now in the Uffizi in Florence.

<i>Temperance</i> (Pollaiuolo) 1470 painting by Piero del Pollaiuolo

Temperance is a 1470 oil on panel painting by Piero del Pollaiuolo, now in the Uffizi in Florence. It represents Temperance, one of the seven virtues of the Catholic Church.

<i>Portrait of a Young Woman</i> (Pollaiuolo) Painting in Milan by Piero or Antonio del Pollaiuolo

Portrait of a Young Woman is a mixed-technique painting on panel of c. 1470–1472, variously attributed to Piero del Pollaiuolo or his brother Antonio. It is now in Milan in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, which uses the painting as its symbol.

<i>Hercules and the Hydra</i> (Pollaiuolo) Painting by Antonio del Pollaiuolo

Hercules and the Hydra is a c. 1475 tempera grassa-on-panel painting by Antonio del Pollaiuolo, forming a pair with the same artist's Hercules slaying Antaeus. Both works are now in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence. It measures 17 cm by 12 cm, small like all his surviving mythological paintings. It is assumed that both these are miniature copies by the artist of two out of the three enormous paintings on canvas of the Labours of Hercules commissioned from Antonio and Piero del Pollaiuolo by Piero di Cosimo de' Medici for the Sala Grande of the Palazzo Medici in the 1460s, which have now been lost.

<i>The Return of Judith to Bethulia</i> Painting by Sandro Botticelli

The Return of Judith to Bethulia is a painting by Sandro Botticelli, made about 1472, and preserved in the Uffizi in Florence.

References

"Allegory." Oxford Art Online: Grove Art Online. (2003). http://www.oxfordartonline.com/

"Fortitude," Le Gallerie degli Uffizi. https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/fortitude.

Davidson, Gustav. "The Celestial Virtues." Prairie Schooner 44 (2) (1970): 155 -162.

Fry, Roger E. "Tempera Painting." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 7 (27) (1905): 175–176.

Lugli, Eemanuel. Metamorphic Heads: A Footnote on Botticelli's and Pollaiuolo's Mercanzia Virtues. Vol. 37 (2017).

Monaghan, Patricia. "Fortuna." In The Book of Goddesses and Heroines, 110. New York, New York: Elsevier-Dutton, 1981.

Stapleford, Richard. "Vasari and Botticelli." Mitteilungen Des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 39 (2) (1995): 397–408.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.