''Pallas and the Centaur'' is a painting by the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
painter
Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th cent ...
, c. 1482. It is now in the
Uffizi Gallery
The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
. It has been proposed as a companion piece to his ''
Primavera'', though it is a different shape. The medium used is
tempera
Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...
paints on canvas and its size is 207 x 148 cm. The painting has been retouched in many places, and these retouchings have faded.
[Legouix, 113]
The life-size figures are from
classical mythology
Classical mythology, Greco-Roman mythology, or Greek and Roman mythology is both the body of and the study of myths from the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans as they are used or transformed by cultural reception. Along with philosophy and poli ...
and probably form an
allegory. There is a
centaur on the left, and a female figure holding a very elaborate
halberd
A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge) is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The word ''halberd'' is cognate with the German word ''Hellebarde'', deriving from ...
on the right. She is clutching the centaur's hair, and he seems submissive to her. The female figure was called
Camilla in the earliest record of the painting, an inventory of 1499, but then in an inventory of 1516 she is called
Minerva
Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Rom ...
, the Roman equivalent of
Pallas Athene
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of v ...
, which remains her usual identification in recent times, although Camilla has supporters.
Arthur Frothingham suggested that she is Florencia, the personification of the city of Florence.
Camilla was a figure from specifically Roman mythology (if not just invented by
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
for the ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of th ...
''), a princess raised in the forest by her father, the exiled King Metabus, to be dedicated to
Diana as a virgin warrior huntress, for whom subduing a centaur might be considered all in a day's work. Pallas/Minerva, by contrast, is a major deity, goddess of wisdom, trade and much else. Centaurs are associated with uncontrolled passion, lust and sensuality, and at least part of the meaning of the painting is clearly about the submission of passion to chastity and/or reason. Various more specific personal, political and philosophical meanings along these general lines have been proposed.
The fine cloth of Pallas' clinging dress is decorated with the three ring insignia of the
Medici family, confirming that the painting was made for the
Medici family. She wears either olive branches (the tree of Pallas) or
laurel
Laurel may refer to:
Plants
* Lauraceae, the laurel family
* Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel
People
* Laurel (given name), people with the given name
* Laurel (surname), people with the surname
* Laurel (mus ...
sprays, entwined around her head, arms, breasts and hips held together by diamant rings similar to those forming the Medici sign; laurel was often used as a punning allusion to
Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...
. On her back is a shield and she wears leather sandals on her feet. The ceremonial
halberd
A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge) is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The word ''halberd'' is cognate with the German word ''Hellebarde'', deriving from ...
, especially in such large and elaborate form, was a weapon carried by guards rather than on the battlefield, and the centaur has apparently been arrested while preparing to shoot his bow.
History
The painting is usually dated to about 1482 or 1483 on stylistic grounds, soon after Botticelli's return from Rome, where he had been part of the project to paint the
Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel (; la, Sacellum Sixtinum; it, Cappella Sistina ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), the chapel takes its nam ...
. The features of the centaur are close to those of
Moses in one of his frescos there. The painting is often connected with the wedding in 1482 of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici to Semiramide Appiano, perhaps as a wedding gift from
Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...
(Lorenzo il Magnifico").
[Lightbown, 152]
Given the Medici device on Pallas' dress, it was presumably commissioned by the Medici family, as were many of Botticelli’s paintings, and has passed to the
Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...
with much of their collection. In 1499 an inventory lists it in the same room as Botticelli's ''
Primavera'', in the town palace in Florence of
Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici
Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici (4 August 1463 – 20 May 1503), nicknamed ''the Popolano'', was an Italian banker and politician, the brother of Giovanni il Popolano. He belonged to the junior (or "Popolani") branch of the House of Medi ...
and his brother
Giovanni "Il Popolano". They were the cousins of
Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...
, ''de facto'' ruler of Florence, and after their father's early death had been his wards. In the later 16th century it hung in the
Palazzo Vecchio. In 1638 it was at the Medici
Villa di Castello
The Villa di Castello, near the hills bordering Florence, Tuscany, central Italy, was the country residence of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1519-1574). The gardens, filled with fountains, statuary, and a grotto, became famous thro ...
, as was the ''Primavera'', then it is recorded in the Pitti Palace by about 1830,
by which time Botticelli was unfashionable and regarded as mainly of historical interest.
The painting was then little-known until it was noticed in 1895 in one of the ante-rooms of the
Palazzo Pitti
The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...
by the English artist, living in Florence,
William Blundell Spence
William Blundell Spence (13 January 1814 – 23 January 1900) was an English painter and art dealer.
Born in Drypool, Yorkshire, to noted entomologist William Spence and his wife Elizabeth Blundell, he spent the years 1826-1832 travelling abroad ...
.
The painting was in the
Uffizi gallery
The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...
from 1922. It has perhaps been
transferred from panel to canvas.
In 2015, this painting among other
Botticelli paintings was in an exhibition that opened in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
before moving to London. It showed Botticelli’s works and other artists’ versions of his paintings such as his ''
The Birth of Venus
''The Birth of Venus'' ( it, Nascita di Venere ) is a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, probably executed in the mid 1480s. It depicts the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea ...
''.
Linda Proud has written an eponymous novel which centres on an account of Botticelli's creation of this painting, and its possible interpretations.
Interpretations
![Chronography 354 Trier](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Chronography_354_Trier.png)
If given by
Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...
for his cousin's wedding, the two figures may represent the couple, aside from any other interpretations. The lands of the bride's father, lord of
Piombino
Piombino is an Italian town and ''comune'' of about 35,000 inhabitants in the province of Livorno (Tuscany). It lies on the border between the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, in front of Elba Island and at the northern side of Maremma.
Ove ...
on the Ligurian coast, and the island of
Elba
Elba ( it, isola d'Elba, ; la, Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano Nationa ...
just off it, might be considered as part of Camilla's hunting grounds.
The Italian for the balls in the Medici
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
is ''palle'', and their supporters were sometimes called ''palleschi'', which adds to the plausibility of political interpretations.
Pallas is a figure of reason, restraining the beast of our nature – also represented by the
centaur – by the hair and looking at it with no fear. This has been connected with
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...
’s theory of the unconscious,
and also to the
Renaissance Neo-Platonist Marsilio Ficino's idea of the human soul as part animal and part human.
It has been interpreted as an allegory on the peace after the
Pazzi
The Pazzi were a noble Florentine family. Their main trade during the fifteenth century was banking. In the aftermath of the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478, members of the family were banished from Florence and their property was confiscated; the ...
wars.
Frothingham posited that Botticelli’s idea for the painting could have come from an image in the
Chronography of 354
The ''Chronograph of 354'' (or "Chronography"), also known as the ''Calendar of 354'', is a compilation of chronological and calendrical texts produced in 354 AD for a wealthy Roman Christian named Valentinus by the calligrapher and illustrator ...
, a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
calendar by
Furius Dionysius Filocalus, the secretary to
Pope Damasus I
Pope Damasus I (; c. 305 – 11 December 384) was the bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death. He presided over the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture. He spoke out against major heresies ( ...
. The calendar depicts the personification of the city of
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
as a female warrior with a spear and shield holding the hair of a male figure with a bow and arrows by his feet. The male is smaller than the female and looks as if he is trying to escape her grasp. The two works are very similar and it is possible Botticelli got his idea for his painting from this image, having seen a copy.
Drawings
![Botticelli, disegno per la pallade](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Botticelli%2C_disegno_per_la_pallade.jpg)
There are three drawings in Botticelli's style of Pallas, which may possibly be early ideas for the painting, though none are very close to the final figure, and all seem to be studies for a single standing figure. In two she carries a large olive branch and holds a helmet. They are in the Uffizi, the
Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and the
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
A pinacotheca (Latin borrowing from grc, πινακοθήκη, pinakothēkē = grc, πίναξ, pinax, (painted) board, tablet, label=none + grc, θήκη, thēkē, box, chest, label=none) was a picture gallery in either ancient Greece or an ...
in Milan.
[Lightbown, 304–305, all illustrated.]
Notes
References
*
Ettlinger, Leopold with Helen S. Ettlinger, ''Botticelli'', 1976, Thames and Hudson (World of Art),
*Frothingham, A. L., "The Real Title of Botticelli's "Pallas"", ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 12/4, Oct.-Dec. 1908: 438–444. . .
*
Hartt, Frederick, ''History of Italian Renaissance Art'', (2nd ed.) 1987, Thames & Hudson (U.S.: Harry N. Abrams),
*Legouix, Susan, ''Botticelli'', 2004 (rev. ed.), Chaucer Press,
*
Lightbown, Ronald, ''Sandro Botticelli: Life and Work'', 1989 (rev. ed.), Thames and Hudson
External links
Web Gallery of Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pallas And The Centaur
1480s paintings
Paintings by Sandro Botticelli in the Uffizi
Paintings depicting Greek myths
Ships in art