Botticelli Reimagined
Interesting
exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at the work and legacy of
Botticelli.
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I liked the
approach of starting with contemporary works although it did need you to have a
good knowledge of the work of the artist. I loved the video by Bill Viola
called “Going Forth by Day” which referenced a cassonne. It was a long format
with people walking through a wood entering at one end of the screen and exiting
at the other. A very calming work. I also loved the Dolce and Gabbana suit and
dress using a print based on the Birth of Venus.
There was a good
room looking at the influence of Botticelli on the Pre-Raphaelites including a
Burne-Jones picture which had been owned by Yves Saint Laurent. I liked the
fact that there were gaps in the display in this room which let you glimpse the
works in the final section which were the real Botticelli’s.
It was a good
idea to keep the real works to the end as they upstage everything that went
before. It’s a shame that some of the great works aren’t there as they can’t
travel but there was a good selection. It gave a good view of how the studio
mass produced some of the subjects. Having done a workshop on his Venus and
Mars picture the weekend before I was fascinated to see portraits of Simonetta
Vespuci and Juliano de Medici and two of the Venus studies from Turin and
Berlin. Also nice to see the wonderfully strange Pentecost Altarpiece from
Birmingham and the Mystic Nativity back from loan to Berlin.
Closed on 3 July
2016.
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