SANDRO BOTTICELLI

[_ALESSANDRO FILIPEPI OR SANDRO DI BOTTICELLO_]

PAINTER OF FLORENCE

At the same time with the elder Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent,
which was truly a golden age for men of intellect, there also flourished
one Alessandro, called Sandro after our custom, and surnamed Di
Botticello for a reason that we shall see below. This man was the son of
Mariano Filipepi, a citizen of Florence, who brought him up with care,
and had him instructed in all those things that are usually taught to
children before they are old enough to be apprenticed to some calling.
But although he found it easy to learn whatever he wished, nevertheless
he was ever restless, nor was he contented with any form of learning,
whether reading, writing, or arithmetic, insomuch that his father, weary
of the vagaries of his son's brain, in despair apprenticed him as a
goldsmith with a boon-companion of his own, called Botticello, no mean
master of that art in his day.

Now in that age there was a very close connection--nay, almost a
constant intercourse--between the goldsmiths and the painters; wherefore
Sandro, who was a ready fellow and had devoted himself wholly to design,
became enamoured of painting, and determined to devote himself to that.
For this reason he spoke out his mind freely to his father, who,
recognizing the inclination of his brain, took him to Fra Filippo of the
Carmine, a most excellent painter of that time, with whom he placed him
to learn the art, according to Sandro's own desire. Thereupon, devoting
himself heart and soul to that art, Sandro followed and imitated his
master so well that Fra Filippo, growing to love him, taught him very
thoroughly, so that he soon rose to such a rank as none would have
expected for him.

While still quite young, he painted a figure of Fortitude in the
Mercatanzia of Florence, among the pictures of Virtues that were wrought
by Antonio and Piero del Pollaiuolo. For the Chapel of the Bardi in S.
Spirito at Florence he painted a panel, wrought with diligence and
brought to a fine completion, which contains certain olive-trees and
palms executed with consummate lovingness. He painted a panel for the
Convertite Nuns, and another for those of S. Barnaba. In the
tramezzo[26] of the Ognissanti, by the door that leads into the choir,
he painted for the Vespucci a S. Augustine in fresco, with which he took
very great pains, seeking to surpass all the painters of his time, and
particu