The Sistine Chapel Frescoes

Another commission, this one sacred, which gives us an idea of Botticelli's social position. In Rome, Pope Sixtus IV had finally finished his chapel, built between two wings of the Vatican Palace in order to unify them, a "patchwork job", with which the architect himself was very unhappy; the Supreme Pontiff, however, was delighted, as he had finally had the chapel to which he could give his name, the Sistine Chapel.

This chapel was totally unadorned, and Sixtus IV decided to call on the best artists to decorate it. The best artists of the era were not in Rome, everybody knew they were in Florence. He first convoked Rosselli, the era's most glorious painter; then, a somewhat younger one, Ghirlandaio; a much younger one, Botticelli and an even younger one, Perugino. The four, three of them Florentine, the fourth from Perugia, went to Rome for a year to work, not on the ceiling which remained obstinately blue with gilded stars at that time, but on the lateral walls, the design of which the Supreme Pontiff had already decided upon: stories from the Old and New Testaments, set facing one another so that the Old Testament could foretell and reveal the New Testament. In this way, Christly evidence could already be found in the great scenes of the Old Testament.

The four young artists practically had a drawing to determine their subjects. Over nine months, Botticelli created three fresco panels, the smallest of which was eleven meters long - proof that Botticelli had learned his trade from Lippi and Verrocchio. We'll take a look at these three frescoes, the subject matter of which is very ponderous.

The Temptation of Christ

In a series of sequential scenes, we can see the moments of the temptation of Christ, amongst which, the culminating moment: Atop the Temple, Satan shows Christ the world and tells him that "All this is yours". Along the way, other moments of this temptation of Christ are presented in groups which end when Satan, finally defeated, opts to throw himself from the top of the rocks rather than to continue to witness Christ's ardor. Botticelli recounts the Temptations of Christ in a somewhat medieval manner, juxtaposing several stories in a single scene, at the risk of making it denser, which it does. One detail in the Adoration of the Eucharist, the big central scene is admirable - the bearer of offerings, who recalls one of the Graces at the Lemmi Villa and who is a forebear of the Graces of Spring.

The Trials of Moses
This fresco is just as ponderous and complex. The burning bush, representing Moses' encounter with God, is there, along with Jethro's daughters, the preparations for the ascent of Mount Sinai with Moses baring his feet, Moses striking an Egyptian, as he does not yet know that he is not Egyptian. All these episodes of Moses' history converge on Jethro's well, the central confluence, with the two figures of Jethro's daughters , all in white; once again, we find this lily-white translucency, in which Botticelli's continuing orientation toward an infinitely elegant and delicate art can be seen.

The Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Abiram
This is certainly the best of the frescoes. Aaron, the priest, had been challenged by three rebels who no longer respected his authority and proposed that a double sacrifice be performed: the rebels would make their offering and Aaron his, and they would then see which was accepted by God. Of course, the smoke from Aaron's pyre rose straight to heaven, while the rebels' sacrifice flame set them on fire. A superb story, very vividly told, this is one of the first times that Botticelli set out to tell a perfectly dynamic story which even mimics persons. The whole painting is brought together by a superb landscape, the most successful of all; this landscape is further unified by a nearly exact copy of the Arch of Constantine which Botticelli introduced into this scene, a nearly completely archeological vision of this Roman monument against a background of a lake and mountains, which gives the whole painting exceptional vigor and power.