Sign-In
Cart
Botticelli's Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance
Paperback
Art HistoryMedieval & Renaissance HistoryIndividual Artists
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN13: 9781324066019
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: Dec 5 2023
Pages: 352
Weight: 0.64
Height: 0.63 Width: 5.51 Depth: 8.27
Language: English
Some five hundred years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created works of unearthly beauty. A star of Florence's art world, he was commissioned by a member of the city's powerful Medici family to execute a near-impossible project: to illustrate all one hundred cantos of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, the ultimate visual homage to that divine poet.
This sparked a gripping encounter between poet and artist, between the religious and the secular, between the earthly and the evanescent, recorded in exquisite drawings by Botticelli that now enchant audiences worldwide. Yet after a lifetime of creating masterpieces including Primavera and The Birth of Venus, Botticelli declined into poverty and obscurity. His Dante project remained unfinished. Then the drawings vanished for over four hundred years. The once famous Botticelli himself was forgotten.
The nineteenth-century rediscovery of Botticelli's Dante drawings brought scholars and art lovers to their knees: this work embodied everything the Renaissance had come to mean. From Botticelli's metaphorical rise from the dead in Victorian England to the emergence of eagle-eyed connoisseurs like Bernard Berenson and Herbert Horne in the early twentieth century, and even the rescue of precious art during World War II and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the posthumous story of Botticelli's Dante drawings is, if anything, even more dramatic than their creation.
A combination of artistic detective story and rich intellectual history, Botticelli's Secret shows not only how the Renaissance came to life, but also how Botticelli's art helped bring it about--and, most important, why we need the Renaissance and all that it stands for today.
1 different editions
Also available
Botticelli's Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance
Luzzi, Joseph
Hardcover
Also in
Individual Artists
Herve Tullet's Art of Play: Images and Inspirations from a Life of Radical Creativity
Tullet, Herve
Van Der Linden, Sophie
Hardcover
Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger
Niffenegger, Audrey
Wasserman, Krystyna
Sterling, Susan Fisher
Hardcover
Dragonart Ultimate Gallery: More Than 70 Dragons and Other Mythological Creatures
Peffer, J. Neondragon
Peffer
Hardcover
Insect Anatomy: The Curious World of Bees, Beetles, Butterflies, and Bugs
Rothman, Julia
Hearst, Michael
Paperback
E Is for Edward: A Centennial Celebration of the Mischievous Mind of Edward Gorey
Hischak, Gregory
The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust
Hardcover
Wildlife Anatomy: The Curious Lives & Features of Wild Animals Around the World
Rothman, Julia
Paperback
Disney Dreams Collection Thomas Kinkade Studios Disney Princess Coloring Book
Kinkade, Thomas
Paperback
Uneasy Elixirs: 50 Curious Cocktails Inspired by the Works of Edward Gorey
Miller, Virginia
Hardcover
The Art of Jacques Pépin: Favorite Recipes and Paintings from My Life in the Kitchen
Pépin, Jacques
Hardcover
All the Colors of Life: Deluxe Gift Edition: An Illustrated Coffee Table Book for Occasions and Celebrations
Aisato, Lisa
Hardcover
Casa Kahlo: Frida Kahlo's Family Home and Sanctuary
Romeo Kahlo, Mara
Romeo, Mara de Anda
Romeo, Frida Hentschel
Hardcover
Beneath the Moon: Fairy Tales, Myths, and Divine Stories from Around the World
Yoshitani, Yoshi
Hardcover
Art/Work - Revised & Updated: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) as You Pursue Your Art Career
Bhandari, Heather Darcy
Melber, Jonathan
Paperback
Anne Neilson's Angels: Devotions and Art to Encourage, Refresh, and Inspire (a 40-Day Devotional)
Neilson, Anne
Hardcover
Expedition: Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV
Barlowe, Wayne Douglas
Hardcover