Sandro Botticelli

Renaissance art · Italian painter · forgotten master

Master of flowing lines. Botticelli's paintings are famous for their smooth, elegant curves and delicate details. His figures seem to float and dance across his canvases with beautiful, natural grace.

His real name was long. He was born Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, but everyone called him Botticelli, which became the name the world remembers.

Forgotten for centuries. After Botticelli died, people forgot how amazing his work was for about 400 years. It wasn't until the late 1800s that artists called Pre-Raphaelites rediscovered how special his paintings really were.

Bridge between two eras. Botticelli painted during the Italian Renaissance, but his style connected the delicate, flowing look of late Gothic art to the newer Renaissance style, making his work unique and timeless.