5/27/2014

A History Of Botticelli Paintings

By Darren Hartley


Botticelli adopted a certain conservativeness in his approach to painting. As a matter of fact, he employed the same methods over and over again throughout his career. Still, Botticelli paintings underwent revisions in traditional procedures to give in to new innovations. The employment of a paint with more transparency was evidence of this innovation. This paint, known as tempera grassa, was a combination of egg yolk and oil.

The finest pigments of the period were utilized in innovative Botticelli paintings. They were applied in scumbles, i.e., thin and opaque layers. However, the reds and greens were glazed more often than not. These pigments produced an exquisite, enamelled effect, from its composition of infinite tonal gradations.

It is unfortunate to note that most of the Botticelli paintings have lost the fullness of their beauty over the years. This loss can be attributable to the fact that colors have a tendency to change nature, to become more transparent, as the years passed on. A prime example is copper resinate, which turns from green to brown, in an irreversible chromatic change, an excessive contrast and a loss of luministic gradation.

The technique used in Botticelli paintings is at its most refined in their flesh tones. Semi-transparent ochres, whites, cinnabars and red lakes are laid over one another in minute brush strokes, making the gradations almost invisible to the naked eye.

Chalk, pen, bistre and tempera were among the media in which Botticelli perfected his skills. This is very evident in Botticelli paintings. He used paper tinted with roses, violets, yellows and grays. This pioneering technique modelled up figures with whites in the light and modelled them down with darker colors.

Because the Dante illustrations were only executed in outline, they were considered unique Botticelli paintings. Supposedly to be infused with color, Botticelli never got to completing them. Of the 92 parchment sheets comprising the collection, some were not even started. They were initially scratched into the parchment, overdrawn with slate and ink, in preparation for their eventual filling with colored inks.




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