Sandro Botticelli

Introduction & Top Questions
Early life and career
Devotional paintings
Secular patronage and works
Mythological paintings
Late works

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Painting by Sandro Botticelli showing Judith and her maid walking, Judith holding a sword and a branch, with distant figures and rocky landscape in the background.

Fresco by Sandro Botticelli showing Saint Augustine seated at a desk, holding a pen and book, with shelves of books and scientific instruments behind him.

Painting by Sandro Botticelli showing the Madonna in a green and red robe holding the Christ Child on her lap, set before classical columns and a distant landscape.

Sandro Botticelli: The Adoration of the Kings

Sandro Botticelli: Madonna with Child and Angels

At a Glance

The Birth of Venus, oil on canvas by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485; in the Uffizi, Florence.

Sandro Botticelli summary

Quizzes

Color pastels, colored chalk, colorful chalk. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society

Ultimate Art Quiz

Close-up of a palette held by a man. Mixing paint, painting, color mixing.

Artists, Painters, & Architects

Tate Modern extension Switch House, London, England. (Tavatnik, museums). Photo dated 2017.

Can You Match These Lesser-Known Paintings to Their Artists?

"The Birth of Venus," tempera on canvas by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485; in the Uffizi, Florence.

Who Painted the Most Expensive Paintings in the World?

Related Questions

Did Sandro Botticelli marry?
How did Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi become known as Sandro Botticelli?
How did Andrea del Verrocchio influence Sandro Botticelli’s paintings?
How did Antonio Pollaiuolo influence Sandro Botticelli’s paintings?
How did Fra Filippo Lippi influence Sandro Botticelli’s artistic style?
How did Girolamo Savonarola affect Sandro Botticelli’s later art?
How did Pallas and the Centaur portray chastity and lust?
How did Sandro Botticelli portray movement with lines in his paintings?
How did Sandro Botticelli’s style change in the 1490s?
How did Sandro Botticelli’s use of color differ from Fra Filippo Lippi’s?
How many paintings by Sandro Botticelli survive wholly or partly from his own hand?
How was Sandro Botticelli educated after finishing school?
How was the pose of Venus in The Birth of Venus inspired by ancient sculpture?
What does Cupid do in La Primavera by Sandro Botticelli?
What happened to Sandro Botticelli’s fresco of the Pazzi conspirators?
What is known about the cause of Sandro Botticelli’s death?
What message about papal authority did the Sistine Chapel frescoes communicate?
When did Sandro Botticelli establish his own workshop in Florence?
Where was Sandro Botticelli buried?
Which early paintings show Sandro Botticelli’s developing style?
Which literary work inspired The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti by Sandro Botticelli?
Which materials gave The Birth of Venus its bright appearance?
Which religious frescoes did Sandro Botticelli paint for the Sistine Chapel?
Which religious subjects did Sandro Botticelli’s workshop paint in large numbers?
Who commissioned The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti for a wedding in 1483?
Who was Sandro Botticelli’s most important painting teacher?
Why did wealthy Florentine families commission paintings for marriage chambers?
Why was Sandro Botticelli’s painting Fortitude important to his career?
Why was Sandro Botticelli’s portrait of a young man holding a medal of Cosimo de’ Medici significant?
Why is Sandro Botticelli so famous?
What was Sandro Botticelli’s family like?
How was Sandro Botticelli educated?
What is Michelangelo best known for?
Why is Michelangelo so famous?
How did Michelangelo paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?
What was Michelangelo like as a person?
What makes Michelangelo a Renaissance man?
What is Masaccio best known for?
What does the name Masaccio mean?

Visual Arts Painting Painters

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External Websites

Project Muse - Sandro Botticelli and the birth of modern portraiture
TheArtStory - Sandro Botticelli
World History Encyclopedia - Sandro Botticelli
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco - 5 Things to Know about Botticelli
Art UK - Sandro Botticelli: master of the Florentine Renaissance
Web Gallery of Art - Biography of Sandro Botticelli
ABC listen - Radio National - Violence, horror and Satanic beasts; Botticelli's journey through hell
Art in Context - Sandro Botticelli Â– The Life and Works of This Famous Florence Artist
PBS - Medici - Sandro Botticelli

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Sandro Botticelli - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Sandro Botticelli

Italian painter

Also known as: Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi

Written by

Ronald W. Lightbown

Keeper of Metalwork, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1984–89. Author of Sandro Botticelli (2 vol.) and others.

Ronald W. Lightbown

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 22, 2026 •History

Sandro Botticelli (born 1445, Florence [Italy]—died May 17, 1510, Florence) was one of the greatest painters of the Florentine Renaissance. His Birth of Venus and La Primavera are often said to epitomize for modern viewers the spirit of the Renaissance. Botticelli’s name is derived from that of his elder brother Giovanni, a pawnbroker who was called Botticello (“Little Barrel”). As is often the case with Renaissance artists, most of the modern information about Botticelli’s life...

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