There are three aspects to this exhibition, split into sections. The first section is worth considering. It shows how modern and contemporary artists - in a wide spread of genres - have bounced off Botticelli's images and produced something of their own - Warhol is an obvious one - but there are many others, for example, Dolce and Gabbana with a suit and dress with a Primavera pattern - recently worn by Lady Gaga. So many different takes on Venus and Primavera. You have only to Google "Venus Botticelli" and you see so many different pastiches of the image of the woman on the Half-Shell -some are really naff - others are thoughtful.
The second section is about the rediscovery of Botticelli in the UK; and how the pre-Raphaelites - from Ruskin to Morris to Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, in the post-industrial age, tried to find the same kind of beauty that Botticelli expressed, but of course they couldn't, - they didn't have the inherent piety - but they failed in interesting ways. I like the pre-Raphs because somehow, in spite of their espousal of the early renaissance aesthetic, they always seem English and they always seem Victorian - as Jane said, even while focussing on the daisies, you can smell the steelworks in the background.
The third section included some masterpieces by Botticelli - Mystic Nativity - Portrait Giuliano de Medici - Ideal Portrait of a Lady - Pallas and the Centaur - and two versions of Venus - amazing - plus some late work that expresses a change in the emotional and spiritual temperature in the Savonarola era. There are also pictures by Botticelli's "workshop" and pictures not by Botticelli but supposed to be. So some of them are wonderful and some are really bad! You can tell immediately which ones are by Botticelli.
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| Mystic Nativity |
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| This picture of Giuliano di Medici was painted after he had been assassinated. |
I think these are probably the loveliest pictures in London at the moment and I do recommend everyone to go and see this - take about 2 hours over it. I went with Jane and had a great time.
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| There are two of these Venuses to compare but I prefer the religious pictures myself. |
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