Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli (Italian, 1444-1510) worked in a style that was heavily influenced by Byzantine art and Classical Greek nudes, but with his own Renaissance flavor (Strickland, //Annotated Mona Lisa//). This style is epitomized by his 1483 painting of Venus and Mars, seen below.



If most of the women in Botticelli's work seem similar, it is due to his love (obsession?) with the beautiful Florentine noblewoman, Simonetta Vespucci. For more about this early beauty queen, see [|"the face that launched a thousand prints."]

Botticelli served as an apprentice under the Florentine monk, Lippi. (from Deimling, B. and M. Claridge. 2007. Sandro Botticelli, 1444/45-1510. Köln, Germany, Taschen.)