Botticelli’s drawings bring us tantalizingly close to the artist, a man as clouded by intimations of darkness, and seeking some salve of beauty, as we are today.
Sotheby’s will auction Portrait of a Youth (left), attributed to Piero del Pollaiuolo, seen next to Botticelli’s Young Man Holding a Roundel Photo: Julian Cassady Photography; Courtesy Sotheby’s
“When we say, ‘This is a Botticelli,’ what do we mean? If the phrase implies that the master conceived the work and executed it without assistance, few paintings would qualify,” writes Jonathan Nelson, teaching professor at Syracuse University, Florence, in his 2009 article, “‘Botticelli’ or ‘Filippino’? How to Define Authorship in a Renaissance Workshop”.
“With the exception of some very small works,” Nelson notes, “virtually all paintings by major Renaissance artists were made with varying degrees of workshop assistance.”