Raffaello Botticini (Firenze 1477 - 1520)

Raphael Botticini (Florence 1477 - 1520) Martyrdom of a Saint Oil on panel 39 x 57 cm The work assimilates perfectly with the three predellas (Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, Expulsion of the Merchants from the Temple, Entrance of Christ into Jerusalem) in the Museo della Collegiata di S. Andrea di Empoli. The son of Francesco Botticini, a painter, he received his training in his father's workshop. Later, his pictorial art was enriched by pointing toward a minor tone classicism, in which we note a thoughtful rhythmicity always guided by precise drawing, probably influenced by Sebastiano Mainardi and the narrative rigor of Iacopo del Sellaio. Reaching the 16th century, his painting was updated through observation of the masters present in Florence. This turning point can be seen in the Nativity, purchased by the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad as a work by Raphael Sanzio, one of the most significant works of his entire activity, where he showed himself interested in the modes of Perugino, Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio and Mariotto Albertinelli, then in the School of St. Mark and Fra Bartolomeo. By virtue of this, in his maturity he painted within the framework of a posed, devout and domestic classicism, following the prevailing spirit in Florence between the last years of the 15th century and the first decades of the 16th century. Raphael Botticini (Florence 1477 - 1520) Martyrdom of a Saint Oil on panel 39 x 57 cm The artwork assimilates perfectly with the three predellas (Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, Expulsion of the Merchants From the Temple, Entry of Christ into Jerusalem) in the Museum of the Collegiate Church of S. Andrea in Empoli.