Part 21 (2/2)

SPRING

(_BOTTICELLI_)

MARCEL REYMOND

Of all the ancient Italian painters, Botticelli has, for several years, been the master ht in that reaction against the pseudo-classic style of the Renaissance which has seemed to be the dominant tendency of art in the Nineteenth Century But this explanation does not suffice to tell us for what reasons the favour of the public has specially fallen upon Botticelli

Why select Botticelli rather than any other artist of the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Century? Why Botticelli and not Giotto, or Fra Angelico, or, to cite none but his contenorelli, or Ghirlandajo?

It is because Fra Angelico's art is too religious for our century and Giotto's art too philosophical, or, at least, it is because our century no longer thinks of deelico, the expression of the moral questions hich it is occupied And if we seem to-day sonorelli, it is because their thought is too grave and because we desire before all else that art shall bring sive repose to our tired brains by char us with the vision of all terrestrial beauties, without exacting any labour or any effort from our minds

In this quest of beauty, our curious s and which have been able to compare the works of thenovelty, eager for rare for that ordinary life brings before our eyes And in our _fin de siecle_ we have been so much the more prone to subtle pursuits because for soht in the forross realism

This refineht, this love of sensual beauty, had appeared at the court of the Medici by the same causes that prompt us to seek thehest degree of well-being, wealth and knowledge

This kind of art lasted only for a moment in Florence It is correct to say that Florentine art did not seem destined to speak the char, this school had been stamped by Giotto with the philosophic impress, and for two centuries its artists had been before everything else, thinkers, occupied more with moral ideas than with the beauty of form

The first in Florence to be enthralled by the charm of beautiful eyes was the poor Filippo Lippi It was he who created that new form of art which was to continue with Botticelli, his pupil, and which attained its perfection under the hands of Leonardo If, to the Lucrezia Buti of Filippo Lippi, we join Botticelli's Simonetta and Leonardo's Monna Lisa, we should have the poeenius under its most exquisite form

[Illustration: SPRING

_Botticelli_]

What Botticelli was, _Spring_ will tell us; and this work is so significant, its essence expresses the thought of the master so clearly that it has preserved all its char is not known to us We call it _Spring_, but if one of the figures in the picture really represents Spring, it is only an accessory figure; and, iven to the picture is entirety modern Vasari says that it represents _Venus surrounded by the Graces_, but if we find the three Graces in the picture, it is not likely that the principal figure represents Venus In ure that is the key to the picture; it is for this figure that everything has been done, and this it is, above all, that weEvidently it is neither Venus, nor Spring; and the precision of the features, and the fidelity of the smallest details of the costume make us believe that we are in the presence of a veritable portrait Around her, Nature adorns herself with flowers; Spring and the Graces surround her like a train of Fays Here is one of the familiar poetical forms of the Fifteenth Century; and, doubtless, by attentively reading the Florentine poets, we should discover the ures that Botticelli has united in his work and which we do not understand[31]

But whatever ures, it is certain that here we have to do with love and beauty, and that perhaps in no other work may we find the charm of woman described in more passionate accents

In this world of fe He knows the attraction of the toilet and of jewels, but he knows above all that no gem and no invention of man can rival the beauty of the female form He was the first to understand the exquisite char the joining of the arm and body, the flexibility of the hips, the roundness of the shoulders, the elegance of the leg, the little shadow thatof the neck, and, above all, the exquisite carving of the hand But, even rands yeux_,”--large eyes, full, restless, and sad, because they are filled with love

Look at these young maidens of Botticelli's What a heavenly vision! Did Alfred de Musset know these veiled forms that seem to float over the meadow and did he think of thehts of May? Did he think of that young girl whose ar Grace so chars of pearls, or, indeed, of that _Pri robe of brocade, scattering handfuls of flowers that shestill in her race, with her beautiful eyes full of infinite tenderness

And around this scene, what a beautiful frame of verdure and flowers!

Nature has donned her richest festal robes; the inanis, all speak of love and happiness, and tell us that the ed eyes, who a his arrows of fire

To say a word about the technique of this work, we should remark that Botticelli always painted in fresco or diste that painting in oil affords; and, on the other hand, he submitted profoundly to the influence of Pollaiolo; he observed Nature with the eyes of a golds a niello or enaold-wire

Finally, is it necessary to speak of the date of the _Pri discussion if the space were accorded raphy written by Vasari merits no credence, that it has been unfortunately accepted by the ood chronology of Botticelli's works, nor even a siy,upon Vasari, place nearly all of Botticelli's works before his trip to Rome in 1481 I think, on the contrary, and I will prove it elsewhere, that the great productive period of Botticelli belongs to the ten last years of the century and that the _Primavera_ should be classed in this period The _Primavera_ represents, with _The Birth of Venus_ and _The Adoration of the Magi_, the cul point of Botticelli's art

Jouin, _Chefs-d'oeuvre; Peinture, Sculpture, Architecture_ (Paris, 1895-97)

FOOTNOTES:

[31] See notably the _Stanze_ of Politian, where one will find nearly all the details of Botticelli's picture; the shady grove, the flowery es Is it not a figure of Botticelli's which is thus described:

”She is white and white is her robe, All painted with flowers, roses, and blades of grass”