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PAG1-botticelli-centaur-jpg

This late- fifteenth-century tempera painting by Sandro Botticelli, described as “a picture recently found” on the half-title page, is reproduced by halftone process engraving and is printed in portrait orientation. The mythological scene depicts two figures in a classical setting. On the left is the Centaur, a hybrid creature with a man’s head, arms, and torso on a horse’s body. Pallas Athena stands at his right, dominating the centre of the composition. As the dominant figure, she is both slightly in front and above the Centaur, who stands beside an edifice of stone pillars holding his cross bow in a downward position with his right arm, while his left arm is raised as if to protect himself from Athena. The goddess grips his hair with her extended right hand, while holding a large halberd (ceremonial battle ax) in her left. The Centaur appears to be submitting to her authority. Robed in white, with a green cloth around her hips, Athena is crowned with a laurel wreath; her long, golden-red hair flows down her back. Since Centaurs are associated with passion and sensuality, and Pallas Athena with wisdom, the painting is often read allegorically to represent reason subduing passion.

This late- fifteenth-century tempera painting by Sandro Botticelli, described as “a picture recently found” on the half-title page, is reproduced by halftone process engraving and is printed in portrait orientation.