Botticelli Paintings

By Darren Hartley


Botticelli paintings were perfections of the methods of the previous century. Despite this conservativeness, they also change procedures that were considered traditional to infuse current innovations into them. As evidence, they used a new medium named tempera grassa. In this medium, the egg yolk was mixed with oil to product a more transparent paint.

The pigments used in Botticelli paintings were the finest of his time. They were applied in thin, opaque layers known as scumbles, while the reds and greens were frequently glazed. They acquired a compact density, producing an exquisite, enamelled effect and creating an extraordinarily luminous subtlety.

It is unfortunate to note that most of the Botticelli paintings have lost the fullness of their beauty over the years. This loss can be attributable to the fact that colors have a tendency to change nature, to become more transparent, as the years passed on. A prime example is copper resinate, which turns from green to brown, in an irreversible chromatic change, an excessive contrast and a loss of luministic gradation.

The technique used in Botticelli paintings is at its most refined in their flesh tones. Semi-transparent ochres, whites, cinnabars and red lakes are laid over one another in minute brush strokes, making the gradations almost invisible to the naked eye.

Chalk, pen, bistre and tempera were among the media in which Botticelli perfected his skills. This is very evident in Botticelli paintings. He used paper tinted with roses, violets, yellows and grays. This pioneering technique modelled up figures with whites in the light and modelled them down with darker colors.

Because the Dante illustrations were only executed in outline, they were considered unique Botticelli paintings. Supposedly to be infused with color, Botticelli never got to completing them. Of the 92 parchment sheets comprising the collection, some were not even started. They were initially scratched into the parchment, overdrawn with slate and ink, in preparation for their eventual filling with colored inks.




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