It is by some accepted that the figure in yellow, on the extreme right, looking out of this picture, is Botticelli himself.  But for a portrait of the painter of more authenticity we must go to the Carmine, where, in the Brancacci chapel, we shall see a fresco by Botticelli’s friend Filippino Lippi representing the Crucifixion of S. Peter, in which our painter is depicted on the right, looking on at the scene—­a rather coarse heavy face, with a large mouth and long hair.  He wears a purple cap and red cloak.  Vasari tells us that Botticelli, although so profoundly thoughtful and melancholy in his work, was extravagant, pleasure loving, and given to practical jokes.  Part at least of this might be gathered from observation of Filippino Lippi’s portrait of him.  According to Vasari it was No. 1286 which brought Botticelli his invitation to Rome from Sixtus IV to decorate the Sixtine Chapel.  But that was several years later and much was to happen in the interval.

The two little “Judith” pictures (Nos. 1156 and 1158) were painted for Piero de’ Medici and had their place in the Medici palace.  In 1494, when Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici was banished from Florence and the palace looted, they were stolen and lost sight of; but during the reign of Francis I they reappeared and were presented to his wife Bianca Capella and once more placed with the Medici treasures.  No. 1156, the Judith walking springily along, sword in hand, having slain the tyrant, is one of the masterpieces of paint.  Everything about it is radiant, superb, and unforgettable.

One other picture which the young painter made for his patron—­or in this case his patroness, Lucrezia Tornabuoni, Piero’s wife—­is the “Madonna of the Magnificat,” No. 1267, with its beautiful children and sweet Madonna, its lovely landscape but not too attractive Child.  The two boys are Lorenzo, on the left, and Giuliano, in yellow.  One of their sisters leans over them.  Here the boys are perhaps, in Botticelli’s way, typified rather than portrayed.  Although this picture came so early in his career Botticelli never excelled its richness, beauty, and depth of feeling, nor its liquid delicacy of treatment.  Lucrezia Tornabuoni, for whom he painted it, was a very remarkable woman, not only a good mother to her children and a good wife to Piero, but a poet and exemplar.  She survived Piero by thirteen years and her son Giuliano by five.  Botticelli painted her portrait, which is now in Berlin.

These pictures are the principal work of Botticelli’s first period, which coincides with the five years of Piero’s rule and the period of mourning for him.