{"product_id":"2940014761130","title":"BOTTICELLI","description":"PLATE I.--THE BIRTH OF VENUS.  From the tempera on canvas in the\u003cbr\u003eUffizi.  (Frontispiece)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis picture is generally regarded as the supreme achievement of\u003cbr\u003eBotticelli's genius.  It was probably painted about 1485, after his\u003cbr\u003ereturn from Rome.  The canvas measures 5 ft 8 in. by 9 ft 1 in., so\u003cbr\u003ethat the figures are nearly life size.  No reproduction can do justice\u003cbr\u003eto the exquisite delicacy of expression in the original.  Something of\u003cbr\u003ethe same quality will be found in the \"Mars and Venus\" in the National\u003cbr\u003eGallery, which was probably painted about the same time.  The two\u003cbr\u003efigures on the left are usually described as Zephyrus and Zephyritis,\u003cbr\u003erepresenting the south and south-west winds: that on the right may be\u003cbr\u003eone of the Hours of Homer's Hymn, or possibly the Spring.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Illustration: PLATE I.--THE BIRTH OF VENUS.]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e=====================================================================\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOTTICELLI\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBY HENRY BRYAN BINNS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT\u003cbr\u003e  REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Illustration: title page logo]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLONDON: T. C. \u0026amp; E. C. JACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES CO.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1907\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe plates are printed by BEMROSE DALZIEL, LTD., Watford\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe text at the BALLANTYNE PRESS, Edinburgh\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePlate\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I. The Birth of Venus . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_\u003cbr\u003e           From the tempera on canvas in the Uffizi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   II. Spring\u003cbr\u003e           From the tempera on wood in the Florence Academy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  III. Portrait of a Man\u003cbr\u003e           From the panel in the Florence Academy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   IV. The Madonna of the Magnificat, known also as the Coronation\u003cbr\u003e         of the Virgin\u003cbr\u003e           From the tondo in the Uffizi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    V. The Madonna of the Pomegranate\u003cbr\u003e           From the tondo in the Uffizi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   VI. The Annunciation\u003cbr\u003e           From the panel in the Uffizi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  VII. The Virgin and Child with St. John and an Angel\u003cbr\u003e           From the panel in the National Gallery\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e VIII. The Virgin and Child by an Open Window\u003cbr\u003e           From the panel in the National Gallery\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Illustration: Botticelli]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom Florence, in the second half of the fifteenth century, men looked\u003cbr\u003einto a new dawn.  When the Turk took Constantinople in 1443, the \"glory\u003cbr\u003ethat was Greece\" was carried to her by fleeing scholars, and she became\u003cbr\u003efor one brilliant generation the home of that Platonic worship of\u003cbr\u003ebeauty and philosophy which had been so long an exile from the hearts\u003cbr\u003eof men.  I say Platonic, because it was especially to Plato, the\u003cbr\u003emystic, that she turned, possessed still by something of the mystical\u003cbr\u003eintensity of her own great poet, himself an exile.  When, in 1444, Pope\u003cbr\u003eEugenius left her to return to Rome, Florence was ready to welcome this\u003cbr\u003enew wanderer, the spirit of the ancient world.  And the almost childish\u003cbr\u003ewonder with which she received that august guest is evident in all the\u003cbr\u003emarvellous work of the years that followed, in none more than in that\u003cbr\u003eof Sandro Botticelli.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e=====================================================================\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePLATE II.--SPRING.  (From the tempera on wood in the Florence Academy)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe date of this painting is much debated.  It may probably be about\u003cbr\u003e1478, before the Roman visit.  It is somewhat larger than the \"Venus,\"\u003cbr\u003ebut the figures are of similar size.  Reading from the left they are\u003cbr\u003eusually described as Mercury, the Three Graces, Venus, Primavera the\u003cbr\u003eSpring-maiden, Flora, and Zephyrus.  The robed Venus is in striking\u003cbr\u003econtrast with that of the later picture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Illustration: PLATE II.--SPRING.]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e=====================================================================\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe indeed was born in the very year of that new advent, lived through\u003cbr\u003ethe period of its sunshine into one of storms--Stygian darkness and\u003cbr\u003efrightful flashes of light--and went down at last, an old broken man,\u003cbr\u003estaggering between two crutches, to his grave.  His times were those of\u003cbr\u003eLorenzo the Magnificent, who was a few years his junior, the\u003cbr\u003eunacknowledged despot of the Tuscan Republic, a prince, cold and hard\u003cbr\u003eas steel, worthy to be an example for young Macchiavelli, yet none the\u003cbr\u003eless a poet, and a devoted lover both of philosophy and of all\u003cbr\u003ebeautiful things.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47181768327408,"sku":"2940014761130","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014761130_p0.jpg?v=1763615215","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014761130","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}