SANDRO BOTTICELLI WAS THE PRINCIPAL PAINTER
in Florence in the second half of the 15th century. His refined and feminine style was outside the mainstream of Florentine art,
but it found favour with the Florentine intelligentsia in the troubled times in which they lived. Little is known about his early life. Temperamentally, he seems to have been highly strung and inclined to lazinessa and practical joking. His principal partons
were the Medici dynasty, for whom he created altarpiec-
es, portraits, allegories, and banners. His masterpieces were his large mythological paintings, which promoted a particular type of divinely inspired beauty, combined with complex literary references. After his death, Botticelli's work sank into obscurity, but his
reputation revived in the 19th century when artists in search of
aesthetic experience were inspired by his portrayal of a dreamlike, atherworldly existence.
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