Who was Sandro Botticelli’s most important painting teacher?

Sandro Botticelli’s most important painting teacher was Filippo Lippi, one of the most admired Florentine masters of the time.1

After an initial apprenticeship with a goldsmith, Botticelli’s father placed him under Lippi, whose influence was fundamental to the artist's formation. Lippi provided Botticelli with essential training in the techniques of panel painting and fresco, as well as an assured control of linear perspective. Stylistically, Botticelli adopted from Lippi a specific repertory of types and compositions, a linear sense of form, and a graceful approach to costuming that remained evident even in his later works.1