Botticelli (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)

Rating:
Summary: An introduction for young artists to the works of Botticelli
Review: I would have been willing to bet money that the back of Mike Venezia's look at Sandro Botticelli would feature the cartoonist on the back cover of the book in some take off on "Birth of Venus." But instead Venezia took his inspiration from Botticelli's "Primavera" ("Springtime"), albeit as "Invenro" ("Winter"). For this, of course, we should all be grateful.

These volumes in the Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series have been one of the cornerstones of my art appreciation course this year. Venezia provides basic biographical information (Botticelli's real name was Alessandro Filipepi) and tries to show how the artist was inspired by other artists and then developed their own distinct style. It was interesting to learn that Botticelli was actually somewhat behind his times; while Raphael and others were studying human anatomy and creating three-dimensional effects with perspective, Botticelli was more interested in making his paintings beautiful in a fantasy kind of way. The distinctive elements of his artwork end up being his decorative backgrounds and the way he gave gentle movements to the people in his paintings.

Consequently, Venezia's look at Botticelli is one of the least informative volumes in this series, although clearly this is because of the artist being discussed rather than the author. There are over a dozen examples of Botticelli's work in this book, as well as several by some of his contemporaries, including Da Vinci and Raphael. Also, there are a series of cartoons by Venezia depicting pivotal moment's in Botticelli's life. However, over all these books are an excellent first place for young readers to learn about great artists from Goya and Monet to Hooper and Picasso.

Rating:
Summary: An introduction for young artists to the works of Botticelli
Review: I would have been willing to bet money that the back of Mike Venezia's look at Sandro Botticelli would feature the cartoonist on the back cover of the book in some take off on "Birth of Venus." But instead Venezia took his inspiration from Botticelli's "Primavera" ("Springtime"), albeit as "Invenro" ("Winter"). For this, of course, we should all be grateful.

These volumes in the Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series have been one of the cornerstones of my art appreciation course this year. Venezia provides basic biographical information (Botticelli's real name was Alessandro Filipepi) and tries to show how the artist was inspired by other artists and then developed their own distinct style. It was interesting to learn that Botticelli was actually somewhat behind his times; while Raphael and others were studying human anatomy and creating three-dimensional effects with perspective, Botticelli was more interested in making his paintings beautiful in a fantasy kind of way. The distinctive elements of his artwork end up being his decorative backgrounds and the way he gave gentle movements to the people in his paintings.

Consequently, Venezia's look at Botticelli is one of the least informative volumes in this series, although clearly this is because of the artist being discussed rather than the author. There are over a dozen examples of Botticelli's work in this book, as well as several by some of his contemporaries, including Da Vinci and Raphael. Also, there are a series of cartoons by Venezia depicting pivotal moment's in Botticelli's life. However, over all these books are an excellent first place for young readers to learn about great artists from Goya and Monet to Hooper and Picasso.