In this artwork, how is the Style discussed?
Sandro Botticelli was a highly skilled and frequently employed artist throughout his career. In the painting, Madonna of the Pomegranate, Botticelli displays his skills as an Italian Renaissance artist. The style of this painting is "naturalistic", meaning "life-like", which is commonly seen in Renaissance art. Botticelli draws the viewers attention to the Virgin Mary, Jesus and the pomegranate by the use of vertical lines, portraying a shining heavenly light.  The use of a circular format of the painting, known as a tondo, assists to focus the attention on these characters. Botticelli displays the use of symmetry by having an equal amount of angels surrounding the Virgin Mary and Jesus on each side. Botticelli began by establishing figures in a careful, freehand, underdrawing in charcoal on the tempera panel. Botticelli was often willing to adopt recent innovations. The most significant innovation in this work was the use of tempera grassa, a type of paint in which egg yolk was modified with adding oil. This made the paint more transparent, as seen in the Madonna of the Pomegranate. Sandro Botticelli is well known for his brush stroke techniques while painting flesh tones and the pigments he used. Botticelli would often apply pigments in a very thin opaque coat, which are better known as scumbles to artists.  Botticelli uses semi-transparent layers of whites, ochres, cinnabars and red lakes which are layered over one another, as seen in the painting. The faces of the women he paints are pale, porcelain-like with vague pink brushes over areas of the cheek, nose and mouth. Botticelli paints infants, such as the Child of God with more intense colors such as cinnabar glazes and accents of red lake. The pigments Botticelli uses have a very cool tone but also has a variety of rich colors mixed. Botticelli enhanced the Virgin Mary and Jesus by the use of brighter colors on their skin tones and clothing while the angels carry a much darker tone.
Madonna Jesus pigments Italian Renaissance tempera Pomegranate Sandro Botticelli pomegranate tondo porcelain angels charcoal Virgin Mary tempera grassa