Watercolour, copy after the Punishment of the Rebels (Destruction of Koran, Dathan and Abirim), Sandro Botticelli in the Sistine Chapel (Rome), Eliseo Fattorini, Arundel Society watercolour, 1871

Watercolour of three different episodes of the life of Moses, with framing line. The first episode is about Joshua who saves Moses from the stones of the rebels. In the middle, with the Constantine Arch in the background, Moses kills them. At end of the scene, the ground opens and the conspirators fall down.

Acquired in 1995 from the National Gallery of London.
Watercolour copy made for the Arundel Society in 1871 by Eliseo Fattorini. Not published.

Original work
This watercolour is a copy after the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel (Vatican, Rome), painted by Sandro Botticelli in 1481-1482. Botticelli (1444/5-1510) lived and worked mainly in Florence. In 1480 he travelled to Rome with other Florentine painters, to work in the Sistine Chapel. This commission was part of the reconciliation between the Pope Sistus IV (1414-1484) and Lorenzo de Medici (1449-1492), ruler of Florence, following the Pazzi Conspiracy plotted to destroy the power of the Florentine family.

The decoration of the Sistine Chapel walls was planned to show the parallel between the lives of Moses and Christ. Botticelli painted three events of the life of Moses. It is possible he intended to paint additional frescoes but he returned to Florence without completing the work.

In spite of the popularity of Primitives (art of Western Europ prior to the Renaissance) such as Fra Angelico (1395/1400-1455) or Ghirlandaio (1448/9-1494), Botticelli did not become widely - known in Britain until the 1870s. The publication of the John Ruskin’s pioneering book Modern Painters (first volume published in 1843, the second in 1846), reshaped the importance of early Renaissance painters in the nineteenth century.

Arundel Society
The Arundel Society was founded in 1848 to promote knowledge of the art through the publication of reproductions of works of art. The Society was named after Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (1585-1646), important aristocratic patron and collector of the early Stuart period. The Society was intended to reach the largest possible audience through these reproductions. Subjects were chosen because of their instructive meaning rather than their popularity.

In addition to copies of famous paintings, the Society published an English translation of Giorgio Vasari’s (1511-1574; Florentine painter, draughtsman, architect, writer and collector) Lives of the most excellent painters, made in 1850 by Giovanni Aubrey Bezzi (1785-1789), one of the founding members of the Society.

The Arundel Society popularised Renaissance art, particularly that of the Italian Old Masters, echoing an growing interest for ‘primitives’ in the second half of the nineteenth century. The founding members of the Arundel Society were all acknowledge experts on Italian art. For instance, Sir Charles Eastlake (1793–1865; painter and art administrator), whose house was the meeting point of the Society, was Director of the National Gallery in London from 1855 until 1865 and during his tenure, he began one of the finest collections of Italian art in Britain.

Other preeminent members were John Ruskin (1819-1900, English writer, painter and collector), who supervised projects including the watercolours series of the Upper and Lower Church in Assisi, and Sir Austen H. Layard (1817-1894; English archaeologist, politician, diplomat, collector and writer). Layard lived and travelled in Italy for many years and his knowledge of the country’s art was extensive. It was thanks to Layard’s funding that the Society were able to publish copies of the watercolours made at their direction using chromolithography. Although photography was increasingly popular, as photographs could only be made in black and white, chromolithography was chosen as it was felt to be closer to the principals of the Arundel Society: they were coloured and had the aura of traditional prints. In this way, copies were more like the originals.

The Society reached the height of its popularity in the 1860s. However, by the end of the century, it faced mounting criticism with regards to the accuracy of its watercolour copies. The Society ceased its activities in 1897. In these years the availability of second hand prints had increased and the Society found it difficult to find market for its chromolithographs. Moreover, photographic reproductions had become more common than prints thanks to technical advances.

The last display of the Arundel Society’s watercolours took place at the National Gallery and when the Society was dissolved, some watercolours were given to that Institution, while other were acquired by the then South Kensington Museum (now V&A). The outstanding watercolours were transferred from the National Gallery to the V&A in the 1990s.

Copyist
The watercolours after Botticelli’s frescoes in Rome were made by an Italian copyist, Eliseo Fattorini (1830-1887). An artist and restorer, he had been trained in Perugia (Umbria, Italy). His first commission was the copy of Signorelli’s frescos in the Sistine Chapel in 1869, and he continued to make copies after works by Botticelli between 1870 and 1872.

The Arundel Society was always uncertain about the standard of accuracy from its copyist. At the beginning of its activity, the decay of the frescoes were not recorded but after the protest at the inaccuracy published on the eminent magazine “Athenaeum”, copyists were instructed to avoid personal interpretation. However, an unusual characteristic of Fattorini’s work was a tendency to alter the colour of the originals, giving them a pinkish tint.

This watercolour is a copy made by Eliseo Fattorini (1830-1887) after the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel by Sandro Botticelli (Florence 1444/5-1510). It was painted for the Arundel Society, founded in 1848 to promote knowledge of the art through the publication of reproductions of works of art. The Arundel Society popularised Renaissance art, particularly that of the Italian Old Masters, echoing a growing interest for ‘primitives’ (art of Western Europ prior to the Renaissance) in the second half of the nineteenth century. These watercolours after Botticelli were not published.

Sandro Botticelli worked for most of his life in Florence but in 1481, was called by Pope Sistus IV to work in the Sistine Chapel, together with Ghirlandaio (1448/9-1494), Cosimo Rosselli (1439-1507) and Perugino (c. 1450-1523). The theme of the decoration is the parallel between events in the lives of Moses and Christ, as sign of the continuity between the Old and the New Testament.

E.36-1995