BOTTICELLI
With a selection of portraits, mythological allegories and depictions of the Virgin – altogether some eighty works by Botticelli, his workshop and his contemporaries – the Städel Museum is presenting the first exhibition ever to be devoted to the oeuvre of this great Italian Renaissance master in German-speaking lands.
Sandro Botticelli’s painting has become a landmark of Italian Renaissance, and his monumental Idealized Portrait of a Lady (c. 1480) numbers among the Städel Museum’s main works. The ideal beauty of his mythological figures and the elegant grace of his Virgin figures make his creations the epitome of Florentine painting in the Golden Age under Lorenzo the Magnificent’s rule. It is less his masterful translation of Renaissance ideals which is the reason for the much-praised magic of his pictorial solutions, but rather the exceptional expressiveness of his figurative creations presenting their classically refined beauty in a solemn manner and with an often melancholy note. Initially trained as a goldsmith and then apprenticed to Fra Filippo Lippi, Sandro Botticelli, next to Verrocchio, Ghirlandaio, and the Pollaiuolo brothers, ranks among the most successful painters in Florence in the second half of the quattrocento. From 1470 on, he received prestigious public commissions and made a name for himself as a painter of large altarpieces. Throughout his life, Botticelli was in the ruling Medici family’s and their supporters’ good graces. Fulfilling their wishes for innovative decorative paintings, the master could not only rely on his knowledge of Florentine traditions and of ancient art, but also on definite suggestions and concepts from the circle of humanists gathered around Lorenzo de’ Medici. Held in equally high esteem as both a panel and a fresco painter, Botticelli enjoyed a high standing beyond his native Florence and was thus one of the artists summoned to decorate the walls of the Sistine Chapel in Rome by Pope Sixtus IV in 1481. It was particularly his much-discussed late work that brought out the characteristic features of his original style in an extreme manner. Guided by the art of drawing, Botticelli followed his penchant for rendering his figures with sharp contours, strong movements, and abundant gestures, grounding his compositions rather on textures of lines and surfaces than on spaces and volumes. In this respect, his painting had stood out against his competitors’ work and current theoretical demands since his early years. This is one of the reasons why art-historical research, which has devoted a vast number of major monographs and innumer-able work studies to Botticelli, still assigns a special position to the artist without fail even 500 years after his death on 17 May 1510.
All in all, it will be possible to show more than 80 works by Botticelli, his workshop, and some of his contemporaries like Filippino Lippi or Andrea del Verrocchio. The most important collections in Europe and the USA support the show with central works by the Florentine Renaissance artist. The exhibition focuses on precious creations from all phases of Botticelli’s oeuvre, confronts them with thematically related works by his colleagues, and examines them in the historical context of their making. Organized in three parts, it explores the painter’s various tasks and thematic fields. The portraits and allegorical paintings of the first section illustrate the degree of sophistication with which Botticelli drew on this highly developed genre and enriched it through new impulses. While the second chapter centers on his famous mythological representations of goddesses and heroines of virtue, the third part is dedicated to his abundant religious oeuvre.
Curator: Dr. Andreas Schumacher (Städel Museum)
Botticelli. The Concert
"Adieu Florence la jolie"
Music from the age of Lorenzo the Magnificent, performed by the ensemble "La Selva” under the direction of Carolina Pace (Rome)
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Admission
Gallery and exhibitions
Mo-Fr 10 Euros, reduced 8 Euros
Sa, Su 12 Euros, reduced 10 Euros
Family ticket (two adults and at least one child) 20 Euros
Groups over 20 persons 8 Euros pP
Children's groups accompanied by an educator 3 Euros pP
School groups accompanied by a teacher 3 Euros pP
Student groups accompanied by a lecturer 3 Euros pP
Free admission:
Children until 12
Members of the Städelscher Museums-Verein e.V. / Städelclub
Audioguide
Audioguides in order to discover the Museum's collection are available in English.
3 Euros, reduced 2 Euros
Audioguide Botticelli exhibition 4 Euros, reduced 3 Euros
Guided Tours
Public guided tours in the permanent collection are free of charge.
Public guided tours in special exhibitions cost 2,50 Euros pP.
Number of participants is limited!
Groups wishing to visit the Botticelli-exhibition without taking a guided tour must register in advance: +49 (0) 69-605098-200
Guided tours for private parties:
+49 (0) 69-605098-200
Guided tours for companies:
+49 (0) 69-605098-222
Opening Hours:
Tuesday, Friday to Sunday 10 am to 6 pm
Wednesday and Thursday 10 am to 9 pm
Monday closed
Please be advised that the exhibition is generally very crowded on Saturdays and Sundays between 12 noon and 4 pm.
Special Opening Hours on February 2010
Tuesday–Sunday 10 am to 9 pm
How to get to the Städel by Public Transport
Underground U1, U2, U3 - (Schweizer Platz)
Trams 15 and 16 - (Otto-Hahn-Platz)
About 10 minutes walk from main train station over pedestrian bridge, Holbeinsteg.
Car parks
Car parks are situated in about 10 minutes walk away from the museum.
Alt-Sachsenhausen: Walter-Kolb-Straße 16 (B43)
Near theatre/opera: Willy-Brandt-Platz 5
Untermainanlage: Untermainanlage 1
Römer: Domstraße
Whellchairs and perambulators
Visitors with wheelchairs or perambulators will be met by a member of our staff in front of the main entrance upon request. A bell with an intercom has been installed for this purpose at the foot of the front stairs.
Booking of tickets
It is still possible to buy day tickets at the cash office in front of the Städel Museum.
Regrettably tickets in advance are out of stock.
VIP-Counter (Fastlane)
- Partner of the Städel Museum
- Sponsors of the exhibition
- Members of the Städelscher Museums-Verein e.V. / Städelclub
- Administration und board of trustees of the Städel Museum
- Artcities / Arttourist
- Kultur-Ticket-Spezial (Deutschen Bahn)
- Der schöne Tag (Deutsche Bahn)
- Ameropa
- Wochenend-Package der Tourismus- und Congress GmbH
- Voucher of the Städel Museum - free entrance
- Städelschule / Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach
- Kunstgeschichtliches und Archäologisches Institut der Universität Frankfurt
- Press (with press card)
- Museumsufer-Card
- Museumsufer-Ticket
- ICOM – Card
- Verband deutscher Kunsthistoriker e.V.
- Kunstkarte D.A.CH.
- Begleitpersonen von Schwerbehinderten mit der Eintragung "B" im Ausweis
English edition
The Catalogue for the Special Exhibition Price is sold out.
372 pages, 294 colour illustrations, only hardcover available
24,5 x 30,5 cm
49,80 Euro
English edition
approx. 48 pages, approx. 42 colour illustrations
22 x 22 cm, bound, with CD
16,80 Euro
Städel-Shop
Sponsored by
Commerzbank-Stiftung
With additional support from
Alnatura Produktions- und Handels GmbH
HA Hessen Agentur GmbH
Tourismus+Congress GmbH Frankfurt am Main
Deutsche Bahn AG
Weleda AG
Filiale Douglas Zeil, Frankfurt am Main
Italienische Zentrale für Tourismus ENIT
Italienische Kulturinstitut Frankfurt am Main
ikarus design kaufhaus
Media Partners
Frankfurter Rundschau
Hessischer Rundfunk
Brigitte Woman
Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main
JWT Frankfurt
Cultural Partner
hr2-kultur
Trailer
With kind support from
Acht Frankfurt. visual catering
FunDeMental Studios GmbH
Watch the trailer
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