Pallas and the Centaur

        While studying and looking through the renaissance era I became fascinated by this piece, “Pallas and the  Centaur '' this is a beautiful mythological painting done in tempera paint on canvas (207x148cm). The painting was done by Sandro Botticelli around 1482-85, the painting was commissioned by  Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici which was then gifted to his cousin as a wedding present. When you look at the painting closely it becomes clear that the painting was done for the Medici family, you can see this on Pallas clothing; it is covered with the Medici three-ring family insignia.

    Artist History 

            Sandro Botticelli was born Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi; possibly sometime around 1440-44, at an early age Botticelli showed his talent for the arts, and shortly after he was an apprentice to Fra Filippo Lippi; a blacksmith. He later started his painting career as a painter in Florence, painting frescos for the churches and cathedrals; including a piece in the Sistine chapel but was soon outdone by Michelangelo’s paintings.         Later in his life he became a follower of Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola, he’s influenced toward Botticelli was so great that he stopped painting during his devotion and ended up destroying some of his works in the infamous “ Bonfire of the Vanities”, after Savonarola’s’ execution Botticelli was poor and almost died of starvation until Lorenzo de Medici gave him employment and saved his life.

Mythological History

    

    The reason I love this painting is because of the beauty and mystery that Botticelli placed in the painting. Botticelli is telling a story and I think it's a beautiful one. To understand my point of view I will have to tell you the story of the mythology of the creatures being depicted here. 

        Pallas Athene is an Ancient Greek Goddess known for her wisdom, craftsmanship, and war strategies, but not just that Athene was a very formidable warrior. So with that being said, if this is Athene she is not depicted in her usual way. Some of her depictions show her in full warrior gear, ready for battle. So seeing this version of her is very humanistic, it makes her feel more approachable, she still looks powerful and beautiful; but more relatable to the audience.

    The centaur on the other hand has a tragic story, they were known for barbaric destruction and chaos as well as uncontrollable passion and lust; especially toward Nymphs. However, Centaurs were also formidable and valuable warriors closely associated with Athene herself, Hercules, Jason, and Achilles.

    Referring back to the painting, when we look at the centaur and his features we see that Botticelli was telling a story here. He was telling a story of a centaur in what looks to be in the hunt for something, or maybe someone? A Nymph maybe?? The attention to detail that Botticelli inscribes into his form of a hunter so is to say a fearful skilled warrior; especially with their reputation. We see a bow in his right hand and his left hand still in the position of pulling the bow as if interrupted.

    Here however Athene seems to be subduing him to stop in the middle of his act by grabbing him by the hair and physically stopping him.

    We've got to remember that Athene was too a warrior and a powerful goddess, which clearly she shows here holding a halberd; which was known only to be own by sentries. Athene was also well known for her compassion and generosity toward others though, and I feel like a lot of that is being depicted in this painting. The way her face looks at the centaur as if to say “it’s okay, I will not harm you, but you must stop” The compassion and understanding she shows in her eyes toward the creature, she nor fear or is disgusted by the creature, but she seems to be patient and motherly like. Like a guardian of all, protector of all.

    We then look at the centaur face and see that he seems to be in pain but yet is doing nothing to try to harm this goddess, his face shows some shame of being caught by such a powerful goddess, doing something he clearly shouldn't be doing. Centaurs have been associated with Athene; you can even see some of Athene’s temples decorated with Centaurs in Ancient Greek ruins. This makes me think that due to their known historical association she is taking sympathy in this creature because they maybe have gone into battle together.

Conclusion

     Regardless of the interpretation of the "Pallas and the Centaur", I think this piece and artist needs to get more appreciation and praise. I feel like the artist was being human; made some bad choices and in the end regretted his decision, but don’t we all sometimes. This piece really speaks to me, the beauty of it, it’s not as perfectly humanized as Michelangelo or Leonardo, even though he was painting at the same time as the other greats. He made beautifully unique pieces that came out of stories and he used his imagination to fulfill the story, he made a mythological partnership into reality and made them relatable to the viewer. He was a great artist in my eyes and he was a great visual storyteller.

Works cited

1. “Pallas and the Centaur, 1485 by Sandro Botticelli'', Sandro-Boticelli.com, 2011. https://www.sandro-botticelli.com/pallas-and-the-centaur.jsp#prettyPhoto

2. Sarah L. Maguire, “Pallas Athene: The Greek Goddess of wisdom, craft, and war”, owlcation.com, Jan. 29, 2018. https://owlcation.com/humanities/pallasathene#:~:text=Athene%2C%20also%20known%20as%20Minerva,from%20that%20of%20the%20goddess. 

3. “Athena”, Greekgodandgoddesses.net, Sept. 19, 2014. https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/goddesses/athena/ 

4. Mark Cartwright, “Centaur”, Ancient.EU, Oct. 5, 2012. https://www.ancient.eu/centaur/#:~:text=A%20centaur%20was%20a%20creature,architectural%20sculpture%20and%20pottery%20decoration.

5. “Pallas and the centaur”, wikipedia.org, last edited Jan. 20, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallas_and_the_Centaur

6. “Sandro Botticelli”, The National Gallery https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/sandro-botticelli 

7. “Sandro Botticelli”, Wikipedia.org, last edited Feb. 6th,2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandro_Botticelli