01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, January 5, is Saint Telesphorus' Day, With Footnotes - 164

Sandro Botticelli, (1445 –1510)

The Pope SS. Telesforo, c.  1481

Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome 

Saint Telesphorus, (died c. 136); feast day January 5), pope from about 125 to about 136. Telesphorus is said to have been a Greek, possibly from Calabria. Successor to St. Sixtus I, he was the eighth pope and a witness to the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor Hadrian. In his four filiations, he created thirteen bishops, fifteen priests, and eight deacons.

He is considered the first pope after St. Peter to be martyred, possibly due to conversions caused by his preaching, and is commemorated in the Greek and Roman churches. He is the only 2nd-century pope whose martyrdom can be verified. Some pious Christians removed his body after execution, and placed it near that of Saint Peter, in the Vatican  necropolis.

The tradition of Christmas Midnight Masses, the celebration of Easter on Sundays, the keeping of a seven-week Lent before Easter and the singing of the Gloria are usually attributed to his pontificate. More on Saint Telesphorus

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, known as Sandro Botticelli (1445 –1510), was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. He belonged to the Florentine School.  Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century; since then, his work has been seen to represent the linear grace of Early Renaissance painting.

Botticelli was born in Florence. He was initially trained as a goldsmith. There are very few details of Botticelli's life, but it is known that he became an apprentice when he was about fourteen years old. By 1462 he was apprenticed to Fra Filippo Lippi; many of his early works have been attributed to the elder master, and attributions continue to be uncertain. Influenced also by the monumentality of Masaccio's painting, it was from Lippi that Botticelli learned a more intimate and detailed manner.

By 1470, Botticelli had his own workshop. His work was characterized by a conception of the figure as if seen in low relief, drawn with clear contours, and minimizing strong contrasts of light and shadow which would indicate fully modelled forms.

In the mid-1480s, Botticelli worked on a major fresco cycle for Lorenzo the Magnificent's villa near Volterra; in addition he painted many frescoes in Florentine churches. In 1491 he served on a committee to decide upon a façade for the Cathedral of Florence.

Botticelli never wed, and expressed a strong disliking to the idea of marriage, a prospect he claimed gave him nightmares. More on Sandro Botticelli

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