Sandro Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli's paintings give line a central role in the figures, drapery, and movement of Florentine Renaissance art. His Madonnas and altarpieces use precise drawing to organize sacred encounters, often with richly worked details and deliberate gestures. Primavera and The Birth of Venus bring classical subjects into large compositions associated with private patronage, where groups of figures unfold across flowering ground or an open seashore. Their rhythmic outlines give particular emphasis to flowing hair, patterned clothing, and the movement of bodies. Botticelli trained with Fra Filippo Lippi and later established his own workshop, where Filippino Lippi was an apprentice. Commissions from the Medici and their circle placed his work within Florence's networks of patrons and artists. Religious paintings, mythological subjects, and drawings thus grew from a workshop practice serving several kinds of commission.