The “Great Italian Masters” series will be exhibited in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Bucaramanga, Cartagena, Manizales, Barranquilla and Chía, eight cities in total.
Photo: Courtesy Civitatis
An old calendar sheet, rough and with a texture eroded by time, marks May 15, 1510: the day the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli died. His legacy still influences contemporary artists such as Andy Warhol, and his paintings have an indispensable place in history. But the day he left this world, the others barely noticed. His fate was similar to that of Vincent Van Gogh. Forgotten for centuries, in ruin at the end of his life and barely glorified after death. But history was not always so unkind to him.
Cineco Alternativo opens its cycle of “Great Italian Masters” with the documentary film Botticelli, Florence and the Medici. The protagonist is an artist who filled the era with his brilliance, was the creator of a new ideal of beauty and kept power at the service of art. It is an ode to his work during his lifetime, in addition to reviewing the influence of the Medici and Florence on his work.
Art, mirror of politics and power
Marco Pianigiani’s film shows the iconic cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore filled with blood and tears, when mercenaries sent by the Pazzi – an enemy clan – enter mass to murder Giuliano and Lorenzo Médici, members of a powerful Renaissance family in the Italian city.
But so much blood shed has been in vain. Although Giuliano was brutally murdered, his brother Lorenzo survived and claimed revenge. They caught the mercenaries and the conspiring family in a matter of days, and they were hanged in the public eye.
The cry for justice was immortalized in a painting. Lorenzo the Magnificent asked Botticelli for a painting of the conspirators, so that the people would never forget the hard line against treason.
The cinematography of Botticelli, Florence and The Medici is full of detailed shots where the splendor of the Italian’s paintings can be observed. As if they were giant works, the colors and textures dance to the rhythm of the eyes; and spectators marvel at being able to see them up close.
The film presents the golden years of Sandro Botticelli, who lived his greatest splendor with The Medici. And not only in the Pazzi conspiracy. Some time later, the leader of the family sent his protégé to Rome to paint some frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, and thus smooth things over with the Pope. Once again, artistic works demonstrated the power and magnificence of political agreements.
The beauty of Venus and the first breaking of the fourth wall
In splendor there is beauty. And in beauty there is always art. Like in The birth of Venus either Spring. Women with reddish, curly and wavy hair. The western beauty of Venus, an attraction quite far from the hegemonic bodies that reign today. With sweet and tender looks, sometimes sad. And in some ways, daring – at least for their time – because whoever sees the works is also seen by all of them.
Botticelli was, according to historians, perhaps the first artist to break the fourth wall – the imaginary wall that exists between the painting and the viewer – and allow the characters to look into the eyes of their audience. In cinema, it began to be made in 1903. But the Italian artist had made it centuries before in Portrait of Esmeralda Brandini. He makes the viewer participate, and she breaks the frame envelope by placing her hand on the frame of the work.
Renaissance views, so many narratives
The visual prominence of Botticelli, Florence and the Medici is amazing. The Italian cradle of art looks majestic, brilliant and imposes a golden era of color and elegance, with ocher and reddish tones that are characteristic of artists of the past.
With dynamic and sometimes rhythmic editing, the documentary plays with the connection between Botticelli’s work and the artists of the new millennium. It is no surprise that Andy Warhol made a pop art reinterpretation of The birth of Venusor that Lady Gaga and so many others use their iconography for new narratives.
He was an artist who reinvented himself, and despite having been forgotten for so many centuries, his legacy is indisputable in history.
Cineco Alternativo extends its presence on screens
Cine Colombia continues to bet on art in cinema. At the end of March of this year, they presented their “History and Civilization” series, which featured five documentaries about Napoleon, Tutankhamun, the Egyptian Museum and Pompeii. But thanks to its great success, the Colombian company decided to expand its alternative content presentations.
The public has spoken. And Cine Colombia listens. This time, “Great Italian Masters” will not only be exhibited in Bogotá, Cali and Medellín; but also in Bucaramanga, Cartagena, Manizales, Barranquilla and Chía, eight cities in total. The entire cycle will have an additional day in Bogotá, Cali and Medellín (in addition to the initial three days for the other cities).
Botticelli, Florence and the Medici opens the curtain for the Italian masters this May 3. Art takes over the big screen… Right where it belongs. And for a painter like him, who deserves to never be forgotten again.
