Brief Biographical Information
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi was born in 1445 the son of a hide tanner named Mariano. He was one of eight sons, four of whom survived to adulthood. Sandro’s eldest brother Mariano was a broker and an investor in the Florentine public debt. In that period of Florentine history, that was a very sound investment. Because of his dealings as a broker, Mariano received the nickname Boticello, which means “little tub.” The brothers chose to use this surname as opposed to the family surname, Filipepi. As he grew older, Sandro shortened his full name, Alessandro, to Sandro in conversation with his friends and family.
Records indicated that Sandro remained in school until his father left his job as a tanner in approximately 1460. Giorgio Vasari recorded in his Lives of the Artists that Sandro was an exceptionally bright student but he lacked interest in traditional education. “But although he found it easy to learn whatever he wished, nevertheless he was ever restless.” At approximately the age of fifteen, Sandro was placed into apprenticeship with a goldsmith. His second oldest brother, Antonio, worked as a goldsmith and it was because of this connection that Sandro had the opportunity to be placed into a workshop. Vasari attributed Sandro’s interest in painting to the time he spent as a goldsmith, and while this was a hyperbole, the relationship between goldsmiths and painters in the 15th century cannot be ignored. Antonio, when work as a goldsmith grew scarce, supplement his income with additional work as a gold hammerer. He would pound gold into gold leaf and then sell it to a diverse pool of customers that included painters, whom would use it in their paintings. There was also evidence in his later works that Sandro read Leon Baptista Albeti’s On Painting as a young man. One example of this was the Calumny of Appelles that he painted for the Medici family. The combination of his exposure as an apprentice goldsmith, experiencing artist’s workshops, and a natural inclination towards painting led Sandro to become an apprentice in an art studio in 1461-1462.
Sandro’s father placed him as an apprentice in the studio of Fra Filippo Lippi. Lippi was one of the artists most frequently by the Medici family at that time. To Sandro’s father, Lippi offered a consistent and reliable source of work for his son. It was through this apprenticeship that Sandro made his initial connection with the Medici family. Lippi’s stylistic influence was observed throughout the entire span of Sandro’s work, including several of his early successes like the Adoration of the Magi. Sandro left Lippi’s workshop in 1467, and by 1470 he was recorded as working as a master painter in a workshop in Florence. No major works can be definitely attributed to Sandro during this thre year interim, but there are several Madonnas that were speculated to have been painted by Sandro during this period. By the 1480’s Sandro began what was later to be regarded as the high period of his painting. It was recorded in tax records that Sandro was the master of his own studio and was commissioned to complete countless works for many patrons during this time. His two greatest patrons were the Catholic Church, and the Florentine Medici family; Sandro’s interactions with the Medici family were to be the single most important aspects of his painting career. |
In 1481, Sandro was commissioned by the church to travel to Rome to work on frescoes that were to decorate the walls of the Sistine chapel. Vasari accounted that Sandro was placed as the master of the group of painters that he worked with, Perugino, Ghirlandaio, and Signorelli, however the truth of this claim is dubious. Either way, his importance in the painting of the adornment of the walls of the chapel cannot be ignored. It was upon return from Rome between 1482 and 1485 that Sandro attended the first of the sermons of the preacher Girolamo Savonarola. He preached a fire and brimstone sermon that dealt mainly with a Christian renewal, the foundation of a new Jerusalem at Florence, and diatribes against clerical and political corruption. He would often draw crowds so large that he would have to preach inside of the cathedral. In 1497, Savonarola was excommunicated, however, he continued to preach. He was arrested and imprisoned, and under torture he admitted that his statements and prophecies were false. He was sentenced to death, and was hanged and then his body was burned. The teachings of Savonarola had a profound impact on both the tone and subject of Sandro’s works, as well as his relationship with the Medici family.
Because of his connection Savonarola, who preached vehemently against the Medici family, Sandro fell out of favor with his longtime patrons. Without them, Sandro struggled to find work and was soon destitute and forced to live with family members. Alongside this, much of Sandro’s popularity in the art circles of Florence and Italy faded away. When he died in 1510, Sandro was very much unknown amongst the history of Italian art, besides as an early master in that Vasari recorded. In the 19th century, Sandro was rediscovered and recognized as the most influential and important painter of the early Italian Renaissance.
Because of his connection Savonarola, who preached vehemently against the Medici family, Sandro fell out of favor with his longtime patrons. Without them, Sandro struggled to find work and was soon destitute and forced to live with family members. Alongside this, much of Sandro’s popularity in the art circles of Florence and Italy faded away. When he died in 1510, Sandro was very much unknown amongst the history of Italian art, besides as an early master in that Vasari recorded. In the 19th century, Sandro was rediscovered and recognized as the most influential and important painter of the early Italian Renaissance.