Sandro Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli, real name Sandro Filipepi (c. 1445-1510), Italian painter. The nickname ‘Botticelli’, meaning ‘little barrel’, was first given to his elder brother. His style ranges from strong realistic painting, as in St Sebastian (1473), to more emotional and mystical work. His best-known paintings are the graceful mythological Primavera (1478), an allegorical representation of spring, and The Birth of Venus (c. 1485). He also painted some of the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. He broke with his patrons, the Medicis, after the execution of the revolutionary priest Savanorola (1498), and his subsequent works were more sombre and religious.
