This sumptuously illustrated book presents the most recent scholarship in English on Botticelli and Renaissance Florence, featuring essays and entries written by an international team of scholars and experts in the field.
The authors examine both the rich array of works featured in the exhibition—paintings, drawings, prints, decorative arts, and ancient Roman marble statues—and seminal themes concerning Botticelli and the artistic achievements of Renaissance Florence. Works by Botticelli’s master, Fra Filippo Lippi, and other members of Botticelli’s circle, including Filippino Lippi, the Pollaiuolo brothers, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Perugino, and Lorenzo di Credi, are among the selection, as well as a dozen important works from the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s collection. Each object is accompanied by a dedicated entry written by a specialist. Particularly illuminating is the inclusion of antiquities and renewed consideration of the complex, multifaceted ways ancient art, literature, and philosophy influenced fifteenth-century Florence. The appendix offers a chronology contextualizing Sandro Botticelli’s life and career and major historic events in Florence, enabling readers to grasp connections between sociopolitical changes and the artistic flowering of this period.
Exhibition dates: Minneapolis Institute of Art, October 16, 2022–January 8, 2023