Sorensen, Oystein :: Manara, Milo

Borgia Flames From Hell page 17

Artists: Milo Manara (All) , Alejandro Jodorowsky (Writer)

4 Comments - 4,294 Views - 0 Like

Borgia Flames From Hell page 17 Comic Art

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First US edition: Heavy Metal 2009

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El Gaucho album page 95

Artwork Details

Title:	Borgia Flames From Hell page 17
Artist:	Milo Manara (All)
Artist:	Alejandro Jodorowsky (Writer)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	4,294
Likes on CAF:	0 1
Comments:	4
Added to Site:	6/4/2015
Comic Art Archive:

Description

RELIGIOUS FANATICISM AND A LOST MASTERPIECE BY BOTTICELLI

This page shows a famous and infamous episode in the Italian Renaissance. For a while in the 1490s the fanatical monk Savonarola held the city of Florence in a tight religious grip. In February 1497 he held his so-called Bonfire of the Vanities, a big bonfire on Piazza della Signoria, the central square outside Palazzo Vecchio, where he urged citizens of Florence to burn all their ungodly and sinful luxury things.

One who fell under his spell was the genius painter Sandro Botticelli, famous for earlier pagan and erotic paintings like Primavera and The Birth of Venus. Here Manara shows a repentant Botticelli bringing another of his pagan/erotic masterpieces to the flames and destroying it forever.
The painting in question, Three Nymphs Trying to Awaken Eros From His Sleep, is an interpretation by Manara. It is an homage from a modern Italian master to an old Italian master. If Botticelli ever created a painting like this, and if he burned it, is open to speculation. He certainly fell under Savonarola´s spell, and there are reports that he burned ungodly artwork on the Bonfire of the Vanities. Anyway, this painting does only exist now on this particular Manara page.

Savonarola´s triumphant religious fanaticism is expertly depicted in the first panel. His reign was short-lived. He fell from power in 1498 and was burned at the stake on the very same spot as his bonfire. Botticelli´s two masterpieces, Primavera and The Birth of Venus, thankfully escaped religious prosecution and the flames. They can be seen today at the Uffizi gallery, just around the corner from where the Bonfire of the Vanities took place.

This page is huge, 75 x 58 cm.

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About the Owner

	Oystein Sorensen Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	July 2005
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	NORWAY
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Comments on this Artwork

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Monty B
Member Since 2006

Posted on 6/4/2015

Great page...congrats on yet another beautiful acquisition!

Davide G.
Member Since 2009

Posted on 6/4/2015

How many tragedies religious fanaticism has caused to mankind! And, sadly, history repeats itself again and again... Anyway, that's a wonderful (and incredibly huge!) page by master Milo!

S S
Member Since 2005

Posted on 6/4/2015

Beautiful!!!

Xavier .
Member Since 2010

Posted on 6/4/2015

Amazing piece! Congrats!!

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