Calumny of Apelles

Painted around 1494 by Sandro Botticelli, this work brings an ancient story back to life. The Greek painter Apelles had been falsely accused of conspiracy, and to defend himself he supposedly created a painting that turned the accusation into a parade of figures. Botticelli, working in the Italian Renaissance, decided to recreate that lost masterpiece based only on a written description from the writer Lucian. So what you see here is essentially one artist imagining another artist's vanished work, separated by more than a thousand years.

Each figure in the scene stands for an idea. On the right, a king with donkey ears listens to bad advice from Ignorance and Suspicion. Slander, the beautiful woman in the center, drags her innocent victim by the hair while Envy, the hooded man, leads the way. Deceit and Fraud fuss over Slander's hair, and at the far left, the dark figure of Remorse turns toward naked Truth, who points to the heavens. The grand marble hall, packed with detailed sculptures and golden reliefs, shows off Botticelli's love of classical beauty.

It is a darker and more crowded picture than the dreamy scenes Botticelli is famous for, like the Birth of Venus. Some art historians think the painting reflects the troubled mood of Florence in those years, when the fiery preacher Savonarola was stirring up the city and old certainties were falling apart. Whether or not that is true, the work remains a fascinating puzzle, a quiet argument about how lies can ruin a good name.