Preparations for an exhibition on Sandro Botticelli at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco resulted in the reattribution of three drawings to the Renaissance master. The findings are the result of years of research by Furio Rinaldi, curator of drawings and prints at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), the organization that manages the Legion of Honor and de Young museums.
New assignments include preparatory sketches for some of Botticelli’s most enduring paintings, The Cestello Annunciation (1489), The Adoration of the Magi (1470-75) and The Virgin and Child with the young Saint John the Baptist (1468-70). This last painting, which is part of the permanent collection of the Louvre, will be presented alongside his preparatory sketch in the exhibition of the Legion of Honor. Drawings by Botticelli (November 18, 2023-February 11, 2024).
Rinaldi “did exceptional research in the years leading up to our Botticelli exhibition, which in itself promises to be a groundbreaking presentation of the centrality of drawing to the practice of this world-renowned artist”, Thomas P. Campbell, director and director general of FAMSF, said in a statement.
Drawings by Botticelli will feature nearly 60 works drawn from 42 lending institutions. The exhibition’s emphasis on the artist’s drawing practice presents both opportunities and difficulties: less than three dozen drawings by Botticelli are believed to exist, due both to the low survival rate of works on paper of the Renaissance era and the artist’s stylistic inconsistency, which makes definitive attribution particularly difficult.
Two drawings that Rinaldi identified as Botticelli originals are currently listed as anonymous 15th-century works at the Christ Church Picture Gallery in Oxford. They appear to have been cut from the same sheet of paper prepared with yellow ocher and feature sensitive metal-point renderings with white lead highlights, capturing the distinct face types that were studio props from Botticelli. The third newly awarded drawing, a metalpoint study of two heads of young men, will be on loan from the Uffizi Gallery.
Two partial studies of a profile (circa 1475), attributed to Sandro Botticelli Courtesy of Uffizi Gallery, Florence
“Exhibitions like this represent an invaluable tool for art historical investigation,” Rinaldi said. “These proposed new attributions will help lay the foundations for a fuller understanding of Botticelli’s artistic output and the field of Italian Renaissance art in general.”
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, known as Sandro Botticelli, created what is considered one of the most enduring examples of the Renaissance preoccupation with all things beautiful. Best known for its lush 15th-century Vatican frescoes and striking mythological paintings, like the iconic Birth of Venus (circa 1485), Botticelli was a favorite of the Medici family. His aesthetic quest for balance and perfection reflects the neo-Platonic ideas of the time.
- Drawings by BotticelliNovember 18, 2023-February 11, 2024, Legion of Honor, San Francisco
