Mitsui Gallery to Open 'La Bella Simonetta.' Exhibition Decoding Botticelli's Ideal Beauty Through Literary Works
Mitsui Gallery will open a special exhibition featuring Botticelli's 'La Bella Simonetta' and explore the subject through Italian and Japanese literature.Summary
Mitsui Gallery will host a special exhibition titled '日伊修好通商条約締結160周年＆シモネッタ歿後550年記念特別展—イタリアと日本の文芸作品に描かれた美しきシモネッタ—' from August 6 to September 30. Co-sponsored by the Italian Embassy in Japan, the event commemorates the 160th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and Italy and the 550th anniversary of the death of Simonetta Vespucci, a renowned beauty of Renaissance Florence. The exhibition's highlight is the public display of 'La Bella Simonetta' (The Beautiful Simonetta), a tempera painting by Botticelli from the late 15th century, which is the only work by Botticelli held by Mitsui. Simonetta was celebrated in 15th-century Florence for her beauty, which captivated many artists and poets, and is widely believed to have been the model for Botticelli's works. The exhibition goes beyond simply introducing the portrait, aiming to interpret Botticelli's paintings as 'apparatuses to glimpse an invisible world' and decode their ideological backgrounds. By focusing on literary works featuring Simonetta—such as the Italian poet Angelo Poliziano's 'Stanze per la giostra' and the Japanese author Tsujii Kunio's novel 'Crown of Spring'—and including 'The Birth of Venus,' the exhibition explores the shared world of thought and imagery between literature and painting.
(Source：美術手帖)