A visual literary exhibition "You would see the lightning in the goddess's eyes...” dedicated to the 575th anniversary of the outstanding Italian artist Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) is on show in the Fine Arts Reading Room (room 306) from November 27 to January 11.
“He does not belong to the retinue of others, but, combining in himself a great deal that was scattered, he reflects the ideals of his time with amazing completeness,” the art critic and artist A. Benois wrote about Botticelli.
The representative of the Florentine school of painting, the unsurpassed master of the Early Renaissance, whom the whole world knows today as Sandro Botticelli, had a long name - Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi. The artist reveived the nickname "Botticelli" which means "a barrel" from one of his older brothers. The artist lived in the golden age of culture of Florence when progressive ideas of the Renaissance started to emerge, in the age of the reign of Lorenzo Medici the Magnificent, who, being a talented poet, gathered at his court a whole galaxy of gifted, comprehensively educated scientists, poets and artists.
Mystical anxiety of the Middle Ages and the enlightened spirit of Antiquity combined in the work of Botticelli in incredible ways. His canvases are filled with unsurpassed grace of form with a philosophical depth of content, a special melody of lines and lyrical spontaneity. Among the artist's creations are works of mythological, allegorical, religious content, frescoes and drawings.
A line from the poem "Stanzas on the Tournament" by Botticelli's contemporary, a poet Angelo Poliziano is used as the title for the exhibition. A scene from this work became the hallmark of the world-famous painting "The Birth of Venus." The exhibition presents reproductions of the best works of the Florentine master: "Annunciation", "St. Sebastian", "Abandoned," "Pieta," "Venus and Mars", "The Return of Judith", "Pallas and the Centaur". Dante, Giuliano De Medici, the muse of the painter Simonetta Vespucci appear on the portraits created by the artist. It is impossible to pass by the Botticelli's Madonnas, as well as the world masterpieces "The Birth of Venus" and the mysterious "Spring", reproductions of which are presented at the exhibition. "The Mystical Nativity", "The Calumny of Apelles", "Scenes from the Life of Saint Zenobius" represent the later period of the artist's work.
Botticelli's illustrations to Dante's "Divine Comedy", where the artist took on the role of an interpreter, deserve a special mention.
The exhibition is complemented by numerous albums of reproductions, monographs and articles about the master.
The opening hours of the exhibition correspond to the library’s opening hours.
Admission is by a library card or by the Social and Cultural Center ticket.
For more info: (+375 17) 293 27 53.
Special Collections Service Department.
