The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak

Prompt: In The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, how is the Depiction of Shoshone Peoples discussed?

Bierstadt paints a band of Shoshone Native peoples at the forefront of the painting. According to a review in Harper's Weekly from March 26, 1864, Lander's Peak "is purely an American scene, and from the faithful and elaborate delineation of the Indian village, a form of life now rapidly disappearing from the earth, may be called a historic landscape." Bierstadt illustrated Shoshone people along with the majestic peaks as a marker of the "sublime" which authors like James Fenimore Cooper, John C. Frémont, and Washington Irving wrote about. Bierstadt does not include who these people are in his painting title. Unlike Catlin, Bierstadt did not focus on the individuality of members of the Shoshone people. Rather, his focus was on their relationship with the landscape. As Bierstadt scholar Matthew Biagell suggests, "He placed them, as he placed European peasants in earlier works, in the middle distance so that we witness their presence in a landscape setting rather than focus on their movements."In 1859, Eastern Shoshone peoples lived in the region now called Western Wyoming. Bierstadt commented on the Shoshone people he saw in a letter from July 10, 1859, which The Crayon, an art magazine, published in September 1859. "The manners and customs of the Indians are still as they were hundreds of years ago, and now is the time to paint them, for they are rapidly passing away, and soon will be known only in history. I think that the artist ought to tell his portion of their history as well as the writer; a combination of both will assuredly render it more complete" Bierstadt adds, "We have a great many Indian subjects. We were quite fortunate in getting them, the natives not being very willing to have the brass tube pointed at them. Of course they were astonished when we showed them the pictures they did not sit for; and the best we have taken have been obtained without the knowledge of the parties, which is, in fact the best way to take any portrait" The Shoshone people are depicted on a similar level as the nature of the image. Bierstadt is attempting to capture an image of them and the Rockies, something which he believes must be preserved as a part of history.

''Lander's Peak'' has often been compared to [[Frederic Edwin Church

Category:Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art


The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak

Prompt: Focus on The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak and explain the Reception.

Lander's Peak was an immediate success; twelve hundred people were invited to the exhibition, and almost a thousand showed up. Bierstadt was a shrewd self-promoter and a gifted artist, and this was the first of his paintings to be widely promoted with a single-picture exhibition accompanied by a pamphlet, engravings, and a tour. The painting, with its ten-foot width, was intended both for exhibition halls and the homes of America's emergent millionaire class. In 1865, British railway entrepreneur James McHenry purchased the work for $25,000, the most paid for an American painting to that point. Bierstadt later repurchased it, and gave or sold it to his brother Edward, before it was eventually acquired for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1907.Comparisons were made between Lander's Peak and The Heart of the Andes, a contemporary painting by one of Bierstadt's main rivals in the landscape genre, Frederic Edwin Church. The two works represented the two great mountain ranges spanning North and South America. At the New York Metropolitan Fair in 1864, held by the United States Sanitary Commission to raise money for the Union war effort, the two paintings were exhibited opposite each other. Lander's Peak and The Heart of the Andes are still exhibited on opposite walls at their current location at the Metropolitan.Most reviews of the painting were positive; one review called it "beyond question one of the finest landscapes ever painted in this country", adding, "Its artistic merits are in some respects unrivaled: and added to these it has the advantage of being a representative painting of a portion of the most sublime and beautiful scenery on the American Continent." The painting won a prize at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867. At the same time, there were also critical voices; in particular, some American Pre-Raphaelites found his brushwork wanting. One such critic complained that it would have been better "if the marks of the brush had, by dexterous handling, been made to stand for scrap and fissure, crag and cranny, but as it is, we have only too little geology and too much bristle."

''Lander's Peak'' has often been compared to [[Frederic Edwin Church

Category:Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art


The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak

Prompt: Explain the Reception of this artwork, The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak.

Lander's Peak was an immediate success; twelve hundred people were invited to the exhibition, and almost a thousand showed up. Bierstadt was a shrewd self-promoter and a gifted artist, and this was the first of his paintings to be widely promoted with a single-picture exhibition accompanied by a pamphlet, engravings, and a tour. The painting, with its ten-foot width, was intended both for exhibition halls and the homes of America's emergent millionaire class. In 1865, British railway entrepreneur James McHenry purchased the work for $25,000, the most paid for an American painting to that point. Bierstadt later repurchased it, and gave or sold it to his brother Edward, before it was eventually acquired for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1907.Comparisons were made between Lander's Peak and The Heart of the Andes, a contemporary painting by one of Bierstadt's main rivals in the landscape genre, Frederic Edwin Church. The two works represented the two great mountain ranges spanning North and South America. At the New York Metropolitan Fair in 1864, held by the United States Sanitary Commission to raise money for the Union war effort, the two paintings were exhibited opposite each other. Lander's Peak and The Heart of the Andes are still exhibited on opposite walls at their current location at the Metropolitan.Most reviews of the painting were positive; one review called it "beyond question one of the finest landscapes ever painted in this country", adding, "Its artistic merits are in some respects unrivaled: and added to these it has the advantage of being a representative painting of a portion of the most sublime and beautiful scenery on the American Continent." The painting won a prize at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867. At the same time, there were also critical voices; in particular, some American Pre-Raphaelites found his brushwork wanting. One such critic complained that it would have been better "if the marks of the brush had, by dexterous handling, been made to stand for scrap and fissure, crag and cranny, but as it is, we have only too little geology and too much bristle."

''Lander's Peak'' has often been compared to [[Frederic Edwin Church

Category:Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art


The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak

Prompt: How does The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak explain its Reception?

Lander's Peak was an immediate success; twelve hundred people were invited to the exhibition, and almost a thousand showed up. Bierstadt was a shrewd self-promoter and a gifted artist, and this was the first of his paintings to be widely promoted with a single-picture exhibition accompanied by a pamphlet, engravings, and a tour. The painting, with its ten-foot width, was intended both for exhibition halls and the homes of America's emergent millionaire class. In 1865, British railway entrepreneur James McHenry purchased the work for $25,000, the most paid for an American painting to that point. Bierstadt later repurchased it, and gave or sold it to his brother Edward, before it was eventually acquired for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1907.Comparisons were made between Lander's Peak and The Heart of the Andes, a contemporary painting by one of Bierstadt's main rivals in the landscape genre, Frederic Edwin Church. The two works represented the two great mountain ranges spanning North and South America. At the New York Metropolitan Fair in 1864, held by the United States Sanitary Commission to raise money for the Union war effort, the two paintings were exhibited opposite each other. Lander's Peak and The Heart of the Andes are still exhibited on opposite walls at their current location at the Metropolitan.Most reviews of the painting were positive; one review called it "beyond question one of the finest landscapes ever painted in this country", adding, "Its artistic merits are in some respects unrivaled: and added to these it has the advantage of being a representative painting of a portion of the most sublime and beautiful scenery on the American Continent." The painting won a prize at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867. At the same time, there were also critical voices; in particular, some American Pre-Raphaelites found his brushwork wanting. One such critic complained that it would have been better "if the marks of the brush had, by dexterous handling, been made to stand for scrap and fissure, crag and cranny, but as it is, we have only too little geology and too much bristle."

''Lander's Peak'' has often been compared to [[Frederic Edwin Church

Category:Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art


The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak

Prompt: In The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, how is the Reception discussed?

Lander's Peak was an immediate success; twelve hundred people were invited to the exhibition, and almost a thousand showed up. Bierstadt was a shrewd self-promoter and a gifted artist, and this was the first of his paintings to be widely promoted with a single-picture exhibition accompanied by a pamphlet, engravings, and a tour. The painting, with its ten-foot width, was intended both for exhibition halls and the homes of America's emergent millionaire class. In 1865, British railway entrepreneur James McHenry purchased the work for $25,000, the most paid for an American painting to that point. Bierstadt later repurchased it, and gave or sold it to his brother Edward, before it was eventually acquired for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1907.Comparisons were made between Lander's Peak and The Heart of the Andes, a contemporary painting by one of Bierstadt's main rivals in the landscape genre, Frederic Edwin Church. The two works represented the two great mountain ranges spanning North and South America. At the New York Metropolitan Fair in 1864, held by the United States Sanitary Commission to raise money for the Union war effort, the two paintings were exhibited opposite each other. Lander's Peak and The Heart of the Andes are still exhibited on opposite walls at their current location at the Metropolitan.Most reviews of the painting were positive; one review called it "beyond question one of the finest landscapes ever painted in this country", adding, "Its artistic merits are in some respects unrivaled: and added to these it has the advantage of being a representative painting of a portion of the most sublime and beautiful scenery on the American Continent." The painting won a prize at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867. At the same time, there were also critical voices; in particular, some American Pre-Raphaelites found his brushwork wanting. One such critic complained that it would have been better "if the marks of the brush had, by dexterous handling, been made to stand for scrap and fissure, crag and cranny, but as it is, we have only too little geology and too much bristle."

''Lander's Peak'' has often been compared to [[Frederic Edwin Church

Category:Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: Focus on Laughing Cavalier and explain the abstract.

The Laughing Cavalier (1624) is a portrait by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals in the Wallace Collection in London. It was described by art historian Seymour Slive as "one of the most brilliant of all Baroque portraits". The title is an invention of the Victorian public and press, dating from its exhibition in the opening display at the Bethnal Green Museum in 1872–1875, just after its arrival in England, after which it was regularly reproduced as a print, and became one of the best known old master paintings in Britain. The unknown subject is in fact not laughing, but can be said to have an enigmatic smile, much amplified by his upturned moustache.

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: Explain the abstract of this artwork, Laughing Cavalier.

The Laughing Cavalier (1624) is a portrait by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals in the Wallace Collection in London. It was described by art historian Seymour Slive as "one of the most brilliant of all Baroque portraits". The title is an invention of the Victorian public and press, dating from its exhibition in the opening display at the Bethnal Green Museum in 1872–1875, just after its arrival in England, after which it was regularly reproduced as a print, and became one of the best known old master paintings in Britain. The unknown subject is in fact not laughing, but can be said to have an enigmatic smile, much amplified by his upturned moustache.

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: How does Laughing Cavalier explain its abstract?

The Laughing Cavalier (1624) is a portrait by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals in the Wallace Collection in London. It was described by art historian Seymour Slive as "one of the most brilliant of all Baroque portraits". The title is an invention of the Victorian public and press, dating from its exhibition in the opening display at the Bethnal Green Museum in 1872–1875, just after its arrival in England, after which it was regularly reproduced as a print, and became one of the best known old master paintings in Britain. The unknown subject is in fact not laughing, but can be said to have an enigmatic smile, much amplified by his upturned moustache.

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: In Laughing Cavalier, how is the abstract discussed?

The Laughing Cavalier (1624) is a portrait by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals in the Wallace Collection in London. It was described by art historian Seymour Slive as "one of the most brilliant of all Baroque portraits". The title is an invention of the Victorian public and press, dating from its exhibition in the opening display at the Bethnal Green Museum in 1872–1875, just after its arrival in England, after which it was regularly reproduced as a print, and became one of the best known old master paintings in Britain. The unknown subject is in fact not laughing, but can be said to have an enigmatic smile, much amplified by his upturned moustache.

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: Focus on Laughing Cavalier and explain the Description.

The portrait measures 83 cm × 67.3 cm (32.7 in × 26.5 in) and is inscribed at top right Æ'TA SVÆ 26/Aº1624, which expands to aetatis suae 26, anno 1624 in Latin and means that the portrait was painted when the sitter was 26 and in the year 1624, and was therefore born in 1597 or 1598. The identity of the man is unknown, and though the recorded 19th-century titles in Dutch, English and French mostly suggest a military man, or at least an officer in one of the part-time militia companies that were often the subjects of group portraits, including some by Hals and later Rembrandt's The Night Watch (1642), in fact he was as likely to be a wealthy civilian. Art historian Pieter Biesboer suggests the painting may depict Dutch cloth merchant Tieleman Roosterman (1598–1673), who is also the subject of another Hals portrait.The composition is lively and spontaneous, and despite the apparent labour involved in the gorgeous, and very expensive, silk costume, close inspection reveals long, quick brush strokes. The turning pose and low viewpoint are found in other portraits by Hals and here allow emphasis on the embroidered sleeve and lace cuff. There are many emblems in the embroidery: signifying "the pleasures and pains of love" are "bees, arrows, flaming cornucopiae, lovers' knots and tongues of fire", while an obelisk or pyramid signifies strength and Mercury's cap and caduceus fortune.In general, commissioned portraits such as this rarely showed adults smiling until the late 18th century, though smiling is often seen in tronies and figures in genre painting. But Hals is an exception to the general rule and often showed sitters with broader smiles than here, and in informal poses that bring an impression of movement and spontaneity to his work.The effect of the eyes appearing to follow the viewer from every angle is a result of the subject being depicted as looking directly forward, toward the artist's point of view, combined with being a static two dimensional representation of this from whichever angle the painting itself is viewed.

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: Explain the Description of this artwork, Laughing Cavalier.

The portrait measures 83 cm × 67.3 cm (32.7 in × 26.5 in) and is inscribed at top right Æ'TA SVÆ 26/Aº1624, which expands to aetatis suae 26, anno 1624 in Latin and means that the portrait was painted when the sitter was 26 and in the year 1624, and was therefore born in 1597 or 1598. The identity of the man is unknown, and though the recorded 19th-century titles in Dutch, English and French mostly suggest a military man, or at least an officer in one of the part-time militia companies that were often the subjects of group portraits, including some by Hals and later Rembrandt's The Night Watch (1642), in fact he was as likely to be a wealthy civilian. Art historian Pieter Biesboer suggests the painting may depict Dutch cloth merchant Tieleman Roosterman (1598–1673), who is also the subject of another Hals portrait.The composition is lively and spontaneous, and despite the apparent labour involved in the gorgeous, and very expensive, silk costume, close inspection reveals long, quick brush strokes. The turning pose and low viewpoint are found in other portraits by Hals and here allow emphasis on the embroidered sleeve and lace cuff. There are many emblems in the embroidery: signifying "the pleasures and pains of love" are "bees, arrows, flaming cornucopiae, lovers' knots and tongues of fire", while an obelisk or pyramid signifies strength and Mercury's cap and caduceus fortune.In general, commissioned portraits such as this rarely showed adults smiling until the late 18th century, though smiling is often seen in tronies and figures in genre painting. But Hals is an exception to the general rule and often showed sitters with broader smiles than here, and in informal poses that bring an impression of movement and spontaneity to his work.The effect of the eyes appearing to follow the viewer from every angle is a result of the subject being depicted as looking directly forward, toward the artist's point of view, combined with being a static two dimensional representation of this from whichever angle the painting itself is viewed.

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: How does Laughing Cavalier explain its Description?

The portrait measures 83 cm × 67.3 cm (32.7 in × 26.5 in) and is inscribed at top right Æ'TA SVÆ 26/Aº1624, which expands to aetatis suae 26, anno 1624 in Latin and means that the portrait was painted when the sitter was 26 and in the year 1624, and was therefore born in 1597 or 1598. The identity of the man is unknown, and though the recorded 19th-century titles in Dutch, English and French mostly suggest a military man, or at least an officer in one of the part-time militia companies that were often the subjects of group portraits, including some by Hals and later Rembrandt's The Night Watch (1642), in fact he was as likely to be a wealthy civilian. Art historian Pieter Biesboer suggests the painting may depict Dutch cloth merchant Tieleman Roosterman (1598–1673), who is also the subject of another Hals portrait.The composition is lively and spontaneous, and despite the apparent labour involved in the gorgeous, and very expensive, silk costume, close inspection reveals long, quick brush strokes. The turning pose and low viewpoint are found in other portraits by Hals and here allow emphasis on the embroidered sleeve and lace cuff. There are many emblems in the embroidery: signifying "the pleasures and pains of love" are "bees, arrows, flaming cornucopiae, lovers' knots and tongues of fire", while an obelisk or pyramid signifies strength and Mercury's cap and caduceus fortune.In general, commissioned portraits such as this rarely showed adults smiling until the late 18th century, though smiling is often seen in tronies and figures in genre painting. But Hals is an exception to the general rule and often showed sitters with broader smiles than here, and in informal poses that bring an impression of movement and spontaneity to his work.The effect of the eyes appearing to follow the viewer from every angle is a result of the subject being depicted as looking directly forward, toward the artist's point of view, combined with being a static two dimensional representation of this from whichever angle the painting itself is viewed.

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: In Laughing Cavalier, how is the Description discussed?

The portrait measures 83 cm × 67.3 cm (32.7 in × 26.5 in) and is inscribed at top right Æ'TA SVÆ 26/Aº1624, which expands to aetatis suae 26, anno 1624 in Latin and means that the portrait was painted when the sitter was 26 and in the year 1624, and was therefore born in 1597 or 1598. The identity of the man is unknown, and though the recorded 19th-century titles in Dutch, English and French mostly suggest a military man, or at least an officer in one of the part-time militia companies that were often the subjects of group portraits, including some by Hals and later Rembrandt's The Night Watch (1642), in fact he was as likely to be a wealthy civilian. Art historian Pieter Biesboer suggests the painting may depict Dutch cloth merchant Tieleman Roosterman (1598–1673), who is also the subject of another Hals portrait.The composition is lively and spontaneous, and despite the apparent labour involved in the gorgeous, and very expensive, silk costume, close inspection reveals long, quick brush strokes. The turning pose and low viewpoint are found in other portraits by Hals and here allow emphasis on the embroidered sleeve and lace cuff. There are many emblems in the embroidery: signifying "the pleasures and pains of love" are "bees, arrows, flaming cornucopiae, lovers' knots and tongues of fire", while an obelisk or pyramid signifies strength and Mercury's cap and caduceus fortune.In general, commissioned portraits such as this rarely showed adults smiling until the late 18th century, though smiling is often seen in tronies and figures in genre painting. But Hals is an exception to the general rule and often showed sitters with broader smiles than here, and in informal poses that bring an impression of movement and spontaneity to his work.The effect of the eyes appearing to follow the viewer from every angle is a result of the subject being depicted as looking directly forward, toward the artist's point of view, combined with being a static two dimensional representation of this from whichever angle the painting itself is viewed.

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: Focus on Laughing Cavalier and explain the History.

The painting's provenance only goes back to a sale in The Hague in 1770; after further Dutch sales it was bought by the Franco-Swiss banker and collector the Comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier in 1822. After his death the painting was acquired at the auction of his collection in Paris in 1865 by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, who outbid Baron James de Rothschild at more than six times the sales estimate. It was in Hertford's Paris home in 1871, listed as portrait d'un homme ("portrait of a man"), and then brought to London, probably for the purpose of exhibiting it in a large and long loan exhibition of old master paintings at Bethnal Green, which was deliberately sited away from the West End of London to attract the working classes. The exhibition was a huge success and A Cavalier (the catalogue title) a particular hit with both public and the critics; it played a considerable part in raising the critical estimation of Hals in England.By 1888, when it was again exhibited at the Royal Academy, it had become Laughing Cavalier, though a cleaning in the intervening period (in 1884) may have changed the effect.  The critic in the Athenaeum noted a brighter appearance, but also that "The man smiles rather than laughs". Hertford's collection was bequeathed to his natural son Sir Richard Wallace Bt., whose widow donated it and his London house to the nation as the Wallace Collection. It was included in the 2021 exhibition 'Frans Hals—The Male Portrait', held at the Wallace Collection,and was on display at the 2023 and 2024 'Frans Hals' exhibition held at the National Gallery and the Rijksmuseum; the latter venue being the first time the painting had been on loan to an exhibition.The "eyes following you round the room" trope has long been a stand-by in British comedy, used by Pete and Dud in The Art Gallery, among many others, sometimes in the form of a portrait with cut-away eyes that can be used as a peephole.

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: Explain the History of this artwork, Laughing Cavalier.

The painting's provenance only goes back to a sale in The Hague in 1770; after further Dutch sales it was bought by the Franco-Swiss banker and collector the Comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier in 1822. After his death the painting was acquired at the auction of his collection in Paris in 1865 by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, who outbid Baron James de Rothschild at more than six times the sales estimate. It was in Hertford's Paris home in 1871, listed as portrait d'un homme ("portrait of a man"), and then brought to London, probably for the purpose of exhibiting it in a large and long loan exhibition of old master paintings at Bethnal Green, which was deliberately sited away from the West End of London to attract the working classes. The exhibition was a huge success and A Cavalier (the catalogue title) a particular hit with both public and the critics; it played a considerable part in raising the critical estimation of Hals in England.By 1888, when it was again exhibited at the Royal Academy, it had become Laughing Cavalier, though a cleaning in the intervening period (in 1884) may have changed the effect.  The critic in the Athenaeum noted a brighter appearance, but also that "The man smiles rather than laughs". Hertford's collection was bequeathed to his natural son Sir Richard Wallace Bt., whose widow donated it and his London house to the nation as the Wallace Collection. It was included in the 2021 exhibition 'Frans Hals—The Male Portrait', held at the Wallace Collection,and was on display at the 2023 and 2024 'Frans Hals' exhibition held at the National Gallery and the Rijksmuseum; the latter venue being the first time the painting had been on loan to an exhibition.The "eyes following you round the room" trope has long been a stand-by in British comedy, used by Pete and Dud in The Art Gallery, among many others, sometimes in the form of a portrait with cut-away eyes that can be used as a peephole.

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: How does Laughing Cavalier explain its History?

The painting's provenance only goes back to a sale in The Hague in 1770; after further Dutch sales it was bought by the Franco-Swiss banker and collector the Comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier in 1822. After his death the painting was acquired at the auction of his collection in Paris in 1865 by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, who outbid Baron James de Rothschild at more than six times the sales estimate. It was in Hertford's Paris home in 1871, listed as portrait d'un homme ("portrait of a man"), and then brought to London, probably for the purpose of exhibiting it in a large and long loan exhibition of old master paintings at Bethnal Green, which was deliberately sited away from the West End of London to attract the working classes. The exhibition was a huge success and A Cavalier (the catalogue title) a particular hit with both public and the critics; it played a considerable part in raising the critical estimation of Hals in England.By 1888, when it was again exhibited at the Royal Academy, it had become Laughing Cavalier, though a cleaning in the intervening period (in 1884) may have changed the effect.  The critic in the Athenaeum noted a brighter appearance, but also that "The man smiles rather than laughs". Hertford's collection was bequeathed to his natural son Sir Richard Wallace Bt., whose widow donated it and his London house to the nation as the Wallace Collection. It was included in the 2021 exhibition 'Frans Hals—The Male Portrait', held at the Wallace Collection,and was on display at the 2023 and 2024 'Frans Hals' exhibition held at the National Gallery and the Rijksmuseum; the latter venue being the first time the painting had been on loan to an exhibition.The "eyes following you round the room" trope has long been a stand-by in British comedy, used by Pete and Dud in The Art Gallery, among many others, sometimes in the form of a portrait with cut-away eyes that can be used as a peephole.

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: In Laughing Cavalier, how is the History discussed?

The painting's provenance only goes back to a sale in The Hague in 1770; after further Dutch sales it was bought by the Franco-Swiss banker and collector the Comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier in 1822. After his death the painting was acquired at the auction of his collection in Paris in 1865 by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, who outbid Baron James de Rothschild at more than six times the sales estimate. It was in Hertford's Paris home in 1871, listed as portrait d'un homme ("portrait of a man"), and then brought to London, probably for the purpose of exhibiting it in a large and long loan exhibition of old master paintings at Bethnal Green, which was deliberately sited away from the West End of London to attract the working classes. The exhibition was a huge success and A Cavalier (the catalogue title) a particular hit with both public and the critics; it played a considerable part in raising the critical estimation of Hals in England.By 1888, when it was again exhibited at the Royal Academy, it had become Laughing Cavalier, though a cleaning in the intervening period (in 1884) may have changed the effect.  The critic in the Athenaeum noted a brighter appearance, but also that "The man smiles rather than laughs". Hertford's collection was bequeathed to his natural son Sir Richard Wallace Bt., whose widow donated it and his London house to the nation as the Wallace Collection. It was included in the 2021 exhibition 'Frans Hals—The Male Portrait', held at the Wallace Collection,and was on display at the 2023 and 2024 'Frans Hals' exhibition held at the National Gallery and the Rijksmuseum; the latter venue being the first time the painting had been on loan to an exhibition.The "eyes following you round the room" trope has long been a stand-by in British comedy, used by Pete and Dud in The Art Gallery, among many others, sometimes in the form of a portrait with cut-away eyes that can be used as a peephole.

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: Focus on Laughing Cavalier and explain the Derivatives.

The Laughing Cavalier is used by McEwan's beer as its logo. It has been modified showing the Laughing Cavalier enjoying the beer.In the Scarlet Pimpernel adventure series by Emma Orczy, The Laughing Cavalier is a prequel recounting the story of the supposed subject of the painting, who is an ancestor of her main hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Sir Percy Blakeney.The Laughing Cavalier features in The Case Of The Mirror Of Portugal, episode six of the TV series The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes.Television series The Monkees features an episode (S02E05) that revolves around the painting and a modified copy as a plot device.A small copy of “Laughing Cavalier” can be seen hanging on a wall in the Harris home in the 1959 murder mystery film “Sapphire” (40mins)

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: Explain the Derivatives of this artwork, Laughing Cavalier.

The Laughing Cavalier is used by McEwan's beer as its logo. It has been modified showing the Laughing Cavalier enjoying the beer.In the Scarlet Pimpernel adventure series by Emma Orczy, The Laughing Cavalier is a prequel recounting the story of the supposed subject of the painting, who is an ancestor of her main hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Sir Percy Blakeney.The Laughing Cavalier features in The Case Of The Mirror Of Portugal, episode six of the TV series The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes.Television series The Monkees features an episode (S02E05) that revolves around the painting and a modified copy as a plot device.A small copy of “Laughing Cavalier” can be seen hanging on a wall in the Harris home in the 1959 murder mystery film “Sapphire” (40mins)

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: How does Laughing Cavalier explain its Derivatives?

The Laughing Cavalier is used by McEwan's beer as its logo. It has been modified showing the Laughing Cavalier enjoying the beer.In the Scarlet Pimpernel adventure series by Emma Orczy, The Laughing Cavalier is a prequel recounting the story of the supposed subject of the painting, who is an ancestor of her main hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Sir Percy Blakeney.The Laughing Cavalier features in The Case Of The Mirror Of Portugal, episode six of the TV series The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes.Television series The Monkees features an episode (S02E05) that revolves around the painting and a modified copy as a plot device.A small copy of “Laughing Cavalier” can be seen hanging on a wall in the Harris home in the 1959 murder mystery film “Sapphire” (40mins)

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford


Laughing Cavalier

Prompt: In Laughing Cavalier, how is the Derivatives discussed?

The Laughing Cavalier is used by McEwan's beer as its logo. It has been modified showing the Laughing Cavalier enjoying the beer.In the Scarlet Pimpernel adventure series by Emma Orczy, The Laughing Cavalier is a prequel recounting the story of the supposed subject of the painting, who is an ancestor of her main hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Sir Percy Blakeney.The Laughing Cavalier features in The Case Of The Mirror Of Portugal, episode six of the TV series The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes.Television series The Monkees features an episode (S02E05) that revolves around the painting and a modified copy as a plot device.A small copy of “Laughing Cavalier” can be seen hanging on a wall in the Harris home in the 1959 murder mystery film “Sapphire” (40mins)

Category:Paintings in the Wallace Collection

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: Focus on Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli and explain the abstract.

The Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli is a manuscript of the Divine Comedy by Dante, illustrated by 92 full-page pictures by Sandro Botticelli that are considered masterpieces and amongst the best works of the Renaissance painter.  The images are mostly not taken beyond silverpoint drawings, many worked over in ink, but four pages are fully coloured.  The manuscript eventually disappeared and most of it was rediscovered in the late nineteenth century, having been detected in the collection of the Duke of Hamilton by Gustav Friedrich Waagen, with a few other pages being found in the Vatican Library.  Botticelli had earlier produced drawings, now lost, to be turned into engravings for a printed edition, although only the first nineteen of the hundred cantos were illustrated.In 1882 the main part of the manuscript was added to the collection of the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin (Museum of Prints and Drawings) when the director Friedrich Lippmann bought 85 of Botticelli's drawings.  Lippmann had moved swiftly and quietly, and when the sale was announced there was a considerable outcry in the British press and Parliament.  Soon after that, it was revealed that another eight drawings from the same manuscript were in the Vatican Library. The bound drawings had been in the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden and after her death in Rome in 1689, had been bought by Pope Alexander VIII for the Vatican collection. The time of separation of these drawings is unknown. The Map of Hell is in the Vatican collection.The exact arrangement of text and illustrations is not known, but a vertical arrangement — placing the illustration page on top of the text page — is agreed on by scholars as a more efficient way of combining the text-illustration pairs. A volume designed to open vertically would be approximately 47 cm wide by 64 cm high, and would incorporate both the text and the illustration for each canto on a single page.The Berlin drawings and those in the Vatican collection were assembled together, for the first time in centuries, in an exhibition showing all 92 of them in Berlin, Rome, and London's Royal Academy, in 2000–01.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: Explain the abstract of this artwork, Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli.

The Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli is a manuscript of the Divine Comedy by Dante, illustrated by 92 full-page pictures by Sandro Botticelli that are considered masterpieces and amongst the best works of the Renaissance painter.  The images are mostly not taken beyond silverpoint drawings, many worked over in ink, but four pages are fully coloured.  The manuscript eventually disappeared and most of it was rediscovered in the late nineteenth century, having been detected in the collection of the Duke of Hamilton by Gustav Friedrich Waagen, with a few other pages being found in the Vatican Library.  Botticelli had earlier produced drawings, now lost, to be turned into engravings for a printed edition, although only the first nineteen of the hundred cantos were illustrated.In 1882 the main part of the manuscript was added to the collection of the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin (Museum of Prints and Drawings) when the director Friedrich Lippmann bought 85 of Botticelli's drawings.  Lippmann had moved swiftly and quietly, and when the sale was announced there was a considerable outcry in the British press and Parliament.  Soon after that, it was revealed that another eight drawings from the same manuscript were in the Vatican Library. The bound drawings had been in the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden and after her death in Rome in 1689, had been bought by Pope Alexander VIII for the Vatican collection. The time of separation of these drawings is unknown. The Map of Hell is in the Vatican collection.The exact arrangement of text and illustrations is not known, but a vertical arrangement — placing the illustration page on top of the text page — is agreed on by scholars as a more efficient way of combining the text-illustration pairs. A volume designed to open vertically would be approximately 47 cm wide by 64 cm high, and would incorporate both the text and the illustration for each canto on a single page.The Berlin drawings and those in the Vatican collection were assembled together, for the first time in centuries, in an exhibition showing all 92 of them in Berlin, Rome, and London's Royal Academy, in 2000–01.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: How does Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli explain its abstract?

The Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli is a manuscript of the Divine Comedy by Dante, illustrated by 92 full-page pictures by Sandro Botticelli that are considered masterpieces and amongst the best works of the Renaissance painter.  The images are mostly not taken beyond silverpoint drawings, many worked over in ink, but four pages are fully coloured.  The manuscript eventually disappeared and most of it was rediscovered in the late nineteenth century, having been detected in the collection of the Duke of Hamilton by Gustav Friedrich Waagen, with a few other pages being found in the Vatican Library.  Botticelli had earlier produced drawings, now lost, to be turned into engravings for a printed edition, although only the first nineteen of the hundred cantos were illustrated.In 1882 the main part of the manuscript was added to the collection of the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin (Museum of Prints and Drawings) when the director Friedrich Lippmann bought 85 of Botticelli's drawings.  Lippmann had moved swiftly and quietly, and when the sale was announced there was a considerable outcry in the British press and Parliament.  Soon after that, it was revealed that another eight drawings from the same manuscript were in the Vatican Library. The bound drawings had been in the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden and after her death in Rome in 1689, had been bought by Pope Alexander VIII for the Vatican collection. The time of separation of these drawings is unknown. The Map of Hell is in the Vatican collection.The exact arrangement of text and illustrations is not known, but a vertical arrangement — placing the illustration page on top of the text page — is agreed on by scholars as a more efficient way of combining the text-illustration pairs. A volume designed to open vertically would be approximately 47 cm wide by 64 cm high, and would incorporate both the text and the illustration for each canto on a single page.The Berlin drawings and those in the Vatican collection were assembled together, for the first time in centuries, in an exhibition showing all 92 of them in Berlin, Rome, and London's Royal Academy, in 2000–01.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: In Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli, how is the abstract discussed?

The Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli is a manuscript of the Divine Comedy by Dante, illustrated by 92 full-page pictures by Sandro Botticelli that are considered masterpieces and amongst the best works of the Renaissance painter.  The images are mostly not taken beyond silverpoint drawings, many worked over in ink, but four pages are fully coloured.  The manuscript eventually disappeared and most of it was rediscovered in the late nineteenth century, having been detected in the collection of the Duke of Hamilton by Gustav Friedrich Waagen, with a few other pages being found in the Vatican Library.  Botticelli had earlier produced drawings, now lost, to be turned into engravings for a printed edition, although only the first nineteen of the hundred cantos were illustrated.In 1882 the main part of the manuscript was added to the collection of the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin (Museum of Prints and Drawings) when the director Friedrich Lippmann bought 85 of Botticelli's drawings.  Lippmann had moved swiftly and quietly, and when the sale was announced there was a considerable outcry in the British press and Parliament.  Soon after that, it was revealed that another eight drawings from the same manuscript were in the Vatican Library. The bound drawings had been in the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden and after her death in Rome in 1689, had been bought by Pope Alexander VIII for the Vatican collection. The time of separation of these drawings is unknown. The Map of Hell is in the Vatican collection.The exact arrangement of text and illustrations is not known, but a vertical arrangement — placing the illustration page on top of the text page — is agreed on by scholars as a more efficient way of combining the text-illustration pairs. A volume designed to open vertically would be approximately 47 cm wide by 64 cm high, and would incorporate both the text and the illustration for each canto on a single page.The Berlin drawings and those in the Vatican collection were assembled together, for the first time in centuries, in an exhibition showing all 92 of them in Berlin, Rome, and London's Royal Academy, in 2000–01.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: Focus on Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli and explain the The 1481 printed edition.

The drawings in the manuscript were not the first to be created by Botticelli for the Divine Comedy. He also illustrated another Commedia, this time a printed edition with engravings as illustrations, that was published by Nicholo di Lorenzo della Magna in Florence in 1481, and is mentioned by Vasari. Scholars agree that the engravings by Baccio Baldini follow drawn designs by Botticelli, though unfortunately Baldini was unable to render Botticelli's style very effectively.Botticelli's attempt to design the illustrations for a printed book was unprecedented for a leading painter, and though it seems to have been something of a flop, this was a role for artists that had an important future.  Vasari wrote disapprovingly of the edition: "being of a sophistical turn of mind, he there wrote a commentary on a portion of Dante and illustrated the Inferno which he printed, spending much time over it, and this abstention from work led to serious disorders in his living." Vasari, who lived when printmaking had become far more important than in Botticelli's day, never takes it seriously, perhaps because his own paintings did not sell well in reproduction.The Divine Comedy consists of 100 cantos, and the printed text left space for one engraving for each canto. However, only 19 illustrations were engraved, and most copies of the book have only the first two or three.  The first two, and sometimes three, are usually printed on the book page, while the later ones are printed on separate sheets that are pasted into place.  This suggests that the production of the engravings lagged behind the printing, and the later illustrations were pasted into the stock of printed and bound books, and perhaps sold to those who had already bought the book.  Unfortunately Baldini was neither very experienced nor talented as an engraver, and was unable to express the delicacy of Botticelli's style in his plates.  The project may have been disrupted by Botticelli's summons to Rome to take part in the project to fresco the Sistine Chapel.  He was perhaps away from July 1481 to at the latest May 1482.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: Explain the The 1481 printed edition of this artwork, Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli.

The drawings in the manuscript were not the first to be created by Botticelli for the Divine Comedy. He also illustrated another Commedia, this time a printed edition with engravings as illustrations, that was published by Nicholo di Lorenzo della Magna in Florence in 1481, and is mentioned by Vasari. Scholars agree that the engravings by Baccio Baldini follow drawn designs by Botticelli, though unfortunately Baldini was unable to render Botticelli's style very effectively.Botticelli's attempt to design the illustrations for a printed book was unprecedented for a leading painter, and though it seems to have been something of a flop, this was a role for artists that had an important future.  Vasari wrote disapprovingly of the edition: "being of a sophistical turn of mind, he there wrote a commentary on a portion of Dante and illustrated the Inferno which he printed, spending much time over it, and this abstention from work led to serious disorders in his living." Vasari, who lived when printmaking had become far more important than in Botticelli's day, never takes it seriously, perhaps because his own paintings did not sell well in reproduction.The Divine Comedy consists of 100 cantos, and the printed text left space for one engraving for each canto. However, only 19 illustrations were engraved, and most copies of the book have only the first two or three.  The first two, and sometimes three, are usually printed on the book page, while the later ones are printed on separate sheets that are pasted into place.  This suggests that the production of the engravings lagged behind the printing, and the later illustrations were pasted into the stock of printed and bound books, and perhaps sold to those who had already bought the book.  Unfortunately Baldini was neither very experienced nor talented as an engraver, and was unable to express the delicacy of Botticelli's style in his plates.  The project may have been disrupted by Botticelli's summons to Rome to take part in the project to fresco the Sistine Chapel.  He was perhaps away from July 1481 to at the latest May 1482.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: How does Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli explain its The 1481 printed edition?

The drawings in the manuscript were not the first to be created by Botticelli for the Divine Comedy. He also illustrated another Commedia, this time a printed edition with engravings as illustrations, that was published by Nicholo di Lorenzo della Magna in Florence in 1481, and is mentioned by Vasari. Scholars agree that the engravings by Baccio Baldini follow drawn designs by Botticelli, though unfortunately Baldini was unable to render Botticelli's style very effectively.Botticelli's attempt to design the illustrations for a printed book was unprecedented for a leading painter, and though it seems to have been something of a flop, this was a role for artists that had an important future.  Vasari wrote disapprovingly of the edition: "being of a sophistical turn of mind, he there wrote a commentary on a portion of Dante and illustrated the Inferno which he printed, spending much time over it, and this abstention from work led to serious disorders in his living." Vasari, who lived when printmaking had become far more important than in Botticelli's day, never takes it seriously, perhaps because his own paintings did not sell well in reproduction.The Divine Comedy consists of 100 cantos, and the printed text left space for one engraving for each canto. However, only 19 illustrations were engraved, and most copies of the book have only the first two or three.  The first two, and sometimes three, are usually printed on the book page, while the later ones are printed on separate sheets that are pasted into place.  This suggests that the production of the engravings lagged behind the printing, and the later illustrations were pasted into the stock of printed and bound books, and perhaps sold to those who had already bought the book.  Unfortunately Baldini was neither very experienced nor talented as an engraver, and was unable to express the delicacy of Botticelli's style in his plates.  The project may have been disrupted by Botticelli's summons to Rome to take part in the project to fresco the Sistine Chapel.  He was perhaps away from July 1481 to at the latest May 1482.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: In Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli, how is the The 1481 printed edition discussed?

The drawings in the manuscript were not the first to be created by Botticelli for the Divine Comedy. He also illustrated another Commedia, this time a printed edition with engravings as illustrations, that was published by Nicholo di Lorenzo della Magna in Florence in 1481, and is mentioned by Vasari. Scholars agree that the engravings by Baccio Baldini follow drawn designs by Botticelli, though unfortunately Baldini was unable to render Botticelli's style very effectively.Botticelli's attempt to design the illustrations for a printed book was unprecedented for a leading painter, and though it seems to have been something of a flop, this was a role for artists that had an important future.  Vasari wrote disapprovingly of the edition: "being of a sophistical turn of mind, he there wrote a commentary on a portion of Dante and illustrated the Inferno which he printed, spending much time over it, and this abstention from work led to serious disorders in his living." Vasari, who lived when printmaking had become far more important than in Botticelli's day, never takes it seriously, perhaps because his own paintings did not sell well in reproduction.The Divine Comedy consists of 100 cantos, and the printed text left space for one engraving for each canto. However, only 19 illustrations were engraved, and most copies of the book have only the first two or three.  The first two, and sometimes three, are usually printed on the book page, while the later ones are printed on separate sheets that are pasted into place.  This suggests that the production of the engravings lagged behind the printing, and the later illustrations were pasted into the stock of printed and bound books, and perhaps sold to those who had already bought the book.  Unfortunately Baldini was neither very experienced nor talented as an engraver, and was unable to express the delicacy of Botticelli's style in his plates.  The project may have been disrupted by Botticelli's summons to Rome to take part in the project to fresco the Sistine Chapel.  He was perhaps away from July 1481 to at the latest May 1482.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: Focus on Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli and explain the Conception and progress of the manuscript.

It is often thought that Botticelli's drawings were commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, an important patron of the artist.  The early 16th-century writer known as the Anonimo Magliabecchiano says that Botticelli painted a Dante on parchment for Lorenzo, but makes it sound as if this was a completed work.  Alternatively the drawings we have may have been a different set for Botticelli's own use and pleasure, which is the conclusion of Ronald Lightbown.Although the printed and illustrated book was rapidly replacing the traditional and very expensive illuminated manuscript in the last decades of the 15th century, the grandest bibliophiles were still commissioning manuscripts, and continued to do so well into the next century, from artists such as Giulio Clovio (1498–1578), perhaps the last major artist to be mainly a manuscript illuminator.The drawings illustrate a manuscript of Dante's Divine Comedy. The entire thematic sequence of each canto was supposed to be illustrated by its own full-page drawing by Botticelli, an unprecedentedly ambitious conception.  Normally, by the 15th century, a single incident was shown in each framed illustration in illustrated Dantes, as for other narrative works.  Botticelli was combining this tradition with another, continuous narrative, where recurrent incidents were shown, usually unframed and in the margin below the text.  Thus the principal figures of Dante, Virgil and Beatrice often appear several times in an image.There are two additional drawings, a map of Hell preceding Inferno, and a double-page drawing of Lucifer that depicts Dante's and Virgil's descent to Hell. The text is written on the reverse of the drawings, so that it was on the same page as the next drawing. As was usual, the text  was completed before the illustrations were begun, omitting the major capital letters which were to be illuminated.The exact date of creation of the drawings is unknown but it is agreed that they were produced over a period of several years, and a stylistic development has been detected.  Estimates vary between a start around the mid-1480s with the last approximately a decade later, and a period extending between about 1480 and 1505 (by which time Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco was dead).  Botticelli never completed the task. Many of the images are not fully drawn and illumination is completed for only four of them. However, the drawings are of such artistry and beauty, that they have been described as "central to Botticelli's artistic achievement" and no less important than the Primavera.  They represent by far the bulk of surviving drawings by Botticelli. Of the small number of other sheets surviving, none relate directly to surviving paintings.Botticelli is thought to have started the drawings at least roughly following the text sequence.  The drawing for Canto I of Inferno has the figures at a larger scale than that used in later cantos, up to the end of the Purgatorio.  The earlier drawings for the Inferno are generally the most completed, and the most detailed, but cantos II to VII, XI and XIV are missing, though probably made by Botticelli.  We have the text pages for the last cantos, Paradiso, XXXI to XXXIII, but the drawings were never begun.  The differing degrees of completion, and the canto numbers and first lines of the matching text inscribed on some sequences of pages but not others, all complicate understanding Botticelli's progress, and have been extensively debated.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: Explain the Conception and progress of the manuscript of this artwork, Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli.

It is often thought that Botticelli's drawings were commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, an important patron of the artist.  The early 16th-century writer known as the Anonimo Magliabecchiano says that Botticelli painted a Dante on parchment for Lorenzo, but makes it sound as if this was a completed work.  Alternatively the drawings we have may have been a different set for Botticelli's own use and pleasure, which is the conclusion of Ronald Lightbown.Although the printed and illustrated book was rapidly replacing the traditional and very expensive illuminated manuscript in the last decades of the 15th century, the grandest bibliophiles were still commissioning manuscripts, and continued to do so well into the next century, from artists such as Giulio Clovio (1498–1578), perhaps the last major artist to be mainly a manuscript illuminator.The drawings illustrate a manuscript of Dante's Divine Comedy. The entire thematic sequence of each canto was supposed to be illustrated by its own full-page drawing by Botticelli, an unprecedentedly ambitious conception.  Normally, by the 15th century, a single incident was shown in each framed illustration in illustrated Dantes, as for other narrative works.  Botticelli was combining this tradition with another, continuous narrative, where recurrent incidents were shown, usually unframed and in the margin below the text.  Thus the principal figures of Dante, Virgil and Beatrice often appear several times in an image.There are two additional drawings, a map of Hell preceding Inferno, and a double-page drawing of Lucifer that depicts Dante's and Virgil's descent to Hell. The text is written on the reverse of the drawings, so that it was on the same page as the next drawing. As was usual, the text  was completed before the illustrations were begun, omitting the major capital letters which were to be illuminated.The exact date of creation of the drawings is unknown but it is agreed that they were produced over a period of several years, and a stylistic development has been detected.  Estimates vary between a start around the mid-1480s with the last approximately a decade later, and a period extending between about 1480 and 1505 (by which time Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco was dead).  Botticelli never completed the task. Many of the images are not fully drawn and illumination is completed for only four of them. However, the drawings are of such artistry and beauty, that they have been described as "central to Botticelli's artistic achievement" and no less important than the Primavera.  They represent by far the bulk of surviving drawings by Botticelli. Of the small number of other sheets surviving, none relate directly to surviving paintings.Botticelli is thought to have started the drawings at least roughly following the text sequence.  The drawing for Canto I of Inferno has the figures at a larger scale than that used in later cantos, up to the end of the Purgatorio.  The earlier drawings for the Inferno are generally the most completed, and the most detailed, but cantos II to VII, XI and XIV are missing, though probably made by Botticelli.  We have the text pages for the last cantos, Paradiso, XXXI to XXXIII, but the drawings were never begun.  The differing degrees of completion, and the canto numbers and first lines of the matching text inscribed on some sequences of pages but not others, all complicate understanding Botticelli's progress, and have been extensively debated.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: How does Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli explain its Conception and progress of the manuscript?

It is often thought that Botticelli's drawings were commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, an important patron of the artist.  The early 16th-century writer known as the Anonimo Magliabecchiano says that Botticelli painted a Dante on parchment for Lorenzo, but makes it sound as if this was a completed work.  Alternatively the drawings we have may have been a different set for Botticelli's own use and pleasure, which is the conclusion of Ronald Lightbown.Although the printed and illustrated book was rapidly replacing the traditional and very expensive illuminated manuscript in the last decades of the 15th century, the grandest bibliophiles were still commissioning manuscripts, and continued to do so well into the next century, from artists such as Giulio Clovio (1498–1578), perhaps the last major artist to be mainly a manuscript illuminator.The drawings illustrate a manuscript of Dante's Divine Comedy. The entire thematic sequence of each canto was supposed to be illustrated by its own full-page drawing by Botticelli, an unprecedentedly ambitious conception.  Normally, by the 15th century, a single incident was shown in each framed illustration in illustrated Dantes, as for other narrative works.  Botticelli was combining this tradition with another, continuous narrative, where recurrent incidents were shown, usually unframed and in the margin below the text.  Thus the principal figures of Dante, Virgil and Beatrice often appear several times in an image.There are two additional drawings, a map of Hell preceding Inferno, and a double-page drawing of Lucifer that depicts Dante's and Virgil's descent to Hell. The text is written on the reverse of the drawings, so that it was on the same page as the next drawing. As was usual, the text  was completed before the illustrations were begun, omitting the major capital letters which were to be illuminated.The exact date of creation of the drawings is unknown but it is agreed that they were produced over a period of several years, and a stylistic development has been detected.  Estimates vary between a start around the mid-1480s with the last approximately a decade later, and a period extending between about 1480 and 1505 (by which time Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco was dead).  Botticelli never completed the task. Many of the images are not fully drawn and illumination is completed for only four of them. However, the drawings are of such artistry and beauty, that they have been described as "central to Botticelli's artistic achievement" and no less important than the Primavera.  They represent by far the bulk of surviving drawings by Botticelli. Of the small number of other sheets surviving, none relate directly to surviving paintings.Botticelli is thought to have started the drawings at least roughly following the text sequence.  The drawing for Canto I of Inferno has the figures at a larger scale than that used in later cantos, up to the end of the Purgatorio.  The earlier drawings for the Inferno are generally the most completed, and the most detailed, but cantos II to VII, XI and XIV are missing, though probably made by Botticelli.  We have the text pages for the last cantos, Paradiso, XXXI to XXXIII, but the drawings were never begun.  The differing degrees of completion, and the canto numbers and first lines of the matching text inscribed on some sequences of pages but not others, all complicate understanding Botticelli's progress, and have been extensively debated.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: In Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli, how is the Conception and progress of the manuscript discussed?

It is often thought that Botticelli's drawings were commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, an important patron of the artist.  The early 16th-century writer known as the Anonimo Magliabecchiano says that Botticelli painted a Dante on parchment for Lorenzo, but makes it sound as if this was a completed work.  Alternatively the drawings we have may have been a different set for Botticelli's own use and pleasure, which is the conclusion of Ronald Lightbown.Although the printed and illustrated book was rapidly replacing the traditional and very expensive illuminated manuscript in the last decades of the 15th century, the grandest bibliophiles were still commissioning manuscripts, and continued to do so well into the next century, from artists such as Giulio Clovio (1498–1578), perhaps the last major artist to be mainly a manuscript illuminator.The drawings illustrate a manuscript of Dante's Divine Comedy. The entire thematic sequence of each canto was supposed to be illustrated by its own full-page drawing by Botticelli, an unprecedentedly ambitious conception.  Normally, by the 15th century, a single incident was shown in each framed illustration in illustrated Dantes, as for other narrative works.  Botticelli was combining this tradition with another, continuous narrative, where recurrent incidents were shown, usually unframed and in the margin below the text.  Thus the principal figures of Dante, Virgil and Beatrice often appear several times in an image.There are two additional drawings, a map of Hell preceding Inferno, and a double-page drawing of Lucifer that depicts Dante's and Virgil's descent to Hell. The text is written on the reverse of the drawings, so that it was on the same page as the next drawing. As was usual, the text  was completed before the illustrations were begun, omitting the major capital letters which were to be illuminated.The exact date of creation of the drawings is unknown but it is agreed that they were produced over a period of several years, and a stylistic development has been detected.  Estimates vary between a start around the mid-1480s with the last approximately a decade later, and a period extending between about 1480 and 1505 (by which time Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco was dead).  Botticelli never completed the task. Many of the images are not fully drawn and illumination is completed for only four of them. However, the drawings are of such artistry and beauty, that they have been described as "central to Botticelli's artistic achievement" and no less important than the Primavera.  They represent by far the bulk of surviving drawings by Botticelli. Of the small number of other sheets surviving, none relate directly to surviving paintings.Botticelli is thought to have started the drawings at least roughly following the text sequence.  The drawing for Canto I of Inferno has the figures at a larger scale than that used in later cantos, up to the end of the Purgatorio.  The earlier drawings for the Inferno are generally the most completed, and the most detailed, but cantos II to VII, XI and XIV are missing, though probably made by Botticelli.  We have the text pages for the last cantos, Paradiso, XXXI to XXXIII, but the drawings were never begun.  The differing degrees of completion, and the canto numbers and first lines of the matching text inscribed on some sequences of pages but not others, all complicate understanding Botticelli's progress, and have been extensively debated.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: Focus on Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli and explain the Technique.

Each page was first drawn with a metal stylus, leaving lines that are now very faint. There are numerous changes evident, which are easy to make in this technique. The next stage was to go over these lines with a pen and black or brown ink. Most of the pages were not taken beyond these stages, which are often found together on a page, with only some areas inked over. Other pages have not yet been inked at all.  Only four pages fully received the final stage of colouring in tempera, though others are part-coloured, usually just the main figures.  It has been argued that Botticelli, or his patron, came to prefer the uncoloured drawings, and deliberately left the rest, but this is not accepted by most scholars.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: Explain the Technique of this artwork, Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli.

Each page was first drawn with a metal stylus, leaving lines that are now very faint. There are numerous changes evident, which are easy to make in this technique. The next stage was to go over these lines with a pen and black or brown ink. Most of the pages were not taken beyond these stages, which are often found together on a page, with only some areas inked over. Other pages have not yet been inked at all.  Only four pages fully received the final stage of colouring in tempera, though others are part-coloured, usually just the main figures.  It has been argued that Botticelli, or his patron, came to prefer the uncoloured drawings, and deliberately left the rest, but this is not accepted by most scholars.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: How does Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli explain its Technique?

Each page was first drawn with a metal stylus, leaving lines that are now very faint. There are numerous changes evident, which are easy to make in this technique. The next stage was to go over these lines with a pen and black or brown ink. Most of the pages were not taken beyond these stages, which are often found together on a page, with only some areas inked over. Other pages have not yet been inked at all.  Only four pages fully received the final stage of colouring in tempera, though others are part-coloured, usually just the main figures.  It has been argued that Botticelli, or his patron, came to prefer the uncoloured drawings, and deliberately left the rest, but this is not accepted by most scholars.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: In Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli, how is the Technique discussed?

Each page was first drawn with a metal stylus, leaving lines that are now very faint. There are numerous changes evident, which are easy to make in this technique. The next stage was to go over these lines with a pen and black or brown ink. Most of the pages were not taken beyond these stages, which are often found together on a page, with only some areas inked over. Other pages have not yet been inked at all.  Only four pages fully received the final stage of colouring in tempera, though others are part-coloured, usually just the main figures.  It has been argued that Botticelli, or his patron, came to prefer the uncoloured drawings, and deliberately left the rest, but this is not accepted by most scholars.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg


Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Prompt: Focus on Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli and explain the Structure and innovations.

Botticelli's manuscripts incorporate several innovations in the way text and images are presented in the volume. In other similar illustrated manuscripts of Dante's Inferno, multiple illustrations were used to depict the events described in a canto. In addition,  most of the space in a page was given to the illustration and associated commentary while  the text portion was smaller in comparison. Therefore, a single canto spread over multiple pages. Botticelli's text and illustration arrangement innovates by presenting the text on a single page in four vertical columns.In addition, unlike similar works, Botticelli's manuscript uses but a single illustration per canto, which occupied a whole page, presenting a unified depiction of the sequence of events of a canto in a vertical format. This way, the readers know that when they advance to a new page, they enter the thematic sequence of a new canto. The text of each canto, from left to right, matches, to a high degree, the pictorial representation as the reader views the illustration from the upper left corner and then proceeds downwards. This reflects the vertical structure of the descent of the two poets through the nine circles of Hell. The additional two illustrations of the Map of Hell and Lucifer lie outside this canto-text structure, thus providing an element of continuity which unifies the work.  Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from Inferno XXXIV spans across two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of Inferno canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.Botticelli renders vertically the ground planes of the illustrations of the second and third rounds of Inferno. Although the illustrations for the first three rounds depict different imagery, the vertical perspective links them into a single unit. The third round consists of the illustrations for cantos XV, XVI and XVII, which depict the punishment of those who sinned by violence against God, nature and art.Botticelli uses thirteen drawings to illustrate the eighth circle of Hell, depicting ten chasms that Dante and Virgil descend through a ridge.

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

''Inferno'' X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.<ref name="jstorp180"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg

File:Illustration for Dante's Inferno by Sandro Botticelli 1481.jpg

File:Botticelli's Lucifer Inferno XXXIV.png

Category:Objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Lucifer's second drawing by Botticelli from ''Inferno'' XXXIV. Lucifer's picture spans two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of ''Inferno'' canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer's geographical position in  Hell.<ref name="jstorp193"/>

Category:Works based on Paradiso (Dante)

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the [[silverpoint

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell.  Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge.  One of only 4 fully coloured pages.<ref name="jstorp182"/>

File:Sandro Botticelli - Paradise, Canto XXX - WGA02862.jpg