38 I
BOTTICELLI
of Classical literature in the freshness of its rediscovery. THE M AD ONNA OF THE EUCH A RI ST
Lo ng G all ery
T empera (poss ibly with some oil in the sh adows) on nut(?) wood, 0 .85 x 0 .645 . Cleaning in 1970-71 revealed a surface worn in places; wh ich has also suffered from the loss of minute fl ak es all over. The fu ndamen tal damage is to th e Child's left h and and the drap ery over th e arm . The balan ce of th e brilliant colours remai n intact, only ch an ged b y th e darkening of the green collar and lining of the Virgin 's ma ntle, and of the vine leaves b en eath the grapes. The ears of the corn and the grap e bunch es proffered by the A ngel symbolise the Euch arist. They are to become the b read and the win e, as the Child is to grow into the Redeemer. This solemn con centration on the sym bolic sep ara tes the yo ung Botticelli at on ce from Filippo Lippi, wh o is thought to h ave been his mas ter. The design is for Botticelli unusually sculptural. The form s are sub stantial, their disposition leads the eye into a sp ace firmly defined b y the plain ston e parap et, and the rounded hills of the landscape seen th ro ugh its embrasure complete the p las ticity of the design . Botticelli h as turned fo r once fu ll into the main Florentin e current of sculptural composition, and he was ra rely to return to it. The picture must h ave b een p ainted between the Fortitude in the Uffizi, p ainted in 1470, wh ere the drapery fa lls into the same rounded striations, and th e 5. S ebas tian in Berlin, wh ich is thought to h ave been once dated 1474. Upon the back of the p anel is a variety of seals with the arms of Prince Chigi, Duke of A riccia. These appear to date from the eighteenth century. In 1892 the picture hung on the ground fl oor of the Palazzo Chigi (now the Italian Foreign Office) in Rome. 1 In 1899 Prince Chigi sold it to Edmond D espretz. A t the suit of the government the Prince was fined the amount h e had received fo r infringing the Pacca law forbidd ing the export of pictures; but the court of appeal fo und h im to be punish able by a fin e not exceeding 2,000 lire and the Supreme Court of Appeal at Perugia is said (A th enae u m, 2 March 1901, p. 282) to h ave reduced it to 10 lire. M eanwhile the p icture h ad been bought by Mrs. G ardner in July 1899 th ro ugh Beren son fr om Colnaghi of London and, after exh ibition in London in November 1901 , it was fin ally disp atch ed to Boston that month. P27w73 1 Mo relli,
T he Itali an Pa in ters (London, 1892), I, p. 83.
OT H ER AUTHOR ITI ES
Beren son in a letter (4 February 1930) and Florentine Schoo l (1963), I , p . 33路 Bo and Ma ndel, L'Opera com pleta del Botticelli (1967), p . 88. Bode, S andro Botticelli (London, 1925), pp . 18, 23-26, 99, 105, and 158 ; and Bott icelli (K lass ike r der Kunst, Stu ttgar t, Berlin and Leipsic, 1926) , Pl. 12. Boskovi ts, Botticelli (1964); he dates it about 1472. Douglas in Crowe and Cav alcasell e' s H isto ry of Painting in Ita ly, IV (London, 1911 ), p. 252, note. Frederickse n and Zeri, Census (1972) , p. 33 . Horne in Noteworthy Paintings, pp. 192-93 ; also, Sandro Botticelli (London, 1908), pp. 35 -36 ; here he stressed the influence of Ve rrocchi o. Mi.int z in Gaze tte des Beaux- Arts, XX (1898), pp. 177-87. Pos t in Art in America, II (1914), pp. 257-63 ; he related the picture to the Neo-Platonism of the period. Ri cci, C., in Noteworthy Pai nti ngs, pp. 188-89. Salvini, T u tta la Pittura del Bo tti celli (1958) , I, pp. 18 and 43 ; he da tes it about 1472 . Steinmann, Botticell i (N ew York, 1901 ), p. 14. Supino, Sandro Botticelli (Florence, 1900) , pp. 19-20, and in N oteworthy Paintings, p . 188 . Ulmann, S an dro Botticelli (Munich, 1893), p. 35 , note, and No. 155; he quoted Morelli. Ve ntu ri, A., Bottice ll i (Rome, 1925) , pp. 28-29 and 108. Ve nturi, l., Pittu re Ita liane in America (Milan, 1931), Pl. CXCI; and Bott icell i (1961 ), p. 9. Yas hiro, Sa nd ro Botticelli (London and Boston, 1925), I, p . 227. Exh ib ited 1-15 N ovember 1901, London, Colnaghi's, large ly in order to di sperse the various rumours as to the picture's identity and des tination caused by the trial of Prince Chigi. Versio ns: (1 ) Chantilly, Musee Conde, No . 23, contempo rary composition based on Botticelli' s. (2) Scandicci (nea r Florence), the Comtesse de Turenne, a fragm ent (H orne) ; thi s is perhaps the H ead of a Madonna noted as copied fr om Mrs. Gardner' s picture (Yashiro, I, p . 234) .
THE TRAGEDY O F LUCRETIA
Raphael Room
Tempera (?) and oil on hard wood panel, 0 .835 x 1 .800. Cleaning in 1954-55 revealed scattered fundamental damage due to flak ing of the paint. The distant landscape, the arch and the gilded reliefs are little affected and the serious losses are confined mainly to the three armed men nearest to the dead Lucretia's h ead, the three men on the extreme right of this centre group and the two men in the middle of the group supporting the dying Lucretia on the righ t. Even here, the heads are not very seriously damaged .