Botticelli and Treasures from the Hamilton Collection featured at the Courtauld Gallery in London

Botticelli and Treasures takes place at the prestigious Courtauld Gallery in London. It is a display of the work of Botticelli that is referred to as the Hamilton collection after being sold to Berlin in 1882 by the 12th Duke of Hamilton. Courtauld has collaborated with Kupferstichkabinett (a museum in Berlin) in order to display these rarely seen pieces of work.

Sandro Botticelli’s exhibit features over thirty drawings from Dante’s epic fourteenth century poem, the Divine Comedy, accompanied by an exceptional assortment of Renaissance illuminated manuscripts. This specific collection of Botticelli’s Dante drawings have not been seen often by the public eye.

The exhibition consists of ten drawings which chart Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.  Botticelli had a goal in mind to illustrate each individual aspect of Dante’s 14,233-line imaginary journey, which is to this day regarded as one of the great works of world literature. With the combination of an overarching narrative theme and the attention to detail that can be seen in his work, it is clear why Botticelli took nearly 15 years to finish these drawings.

Observers start out by receiving a magnifying glass in order to truly be able to appreciate the detail in each illustration. Botticelli’s work has been displayed  at the Courauld Gallery since February,  the event comes to a close on May 15th.

For more information (including tickets and location) visit:  http://courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/what-on/exhibitions-displays/botticelli-and-treasures-from-the-hamilton-collection

– Ben Jacob