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Sandro Botticelli Research Paper

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Sandro Botticelli (1445 - 1510)

BIOGRAPHY

Sandro Botticelli, short for Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, was born on the 1st of March 1445 in The Republic of Florence which is now Italy. As a child he was easily bored in school and was known for his hyperactivity and love of practical jokes. At about fourteen years of age, he was withdrawn from his school and became an apprentice. He first worked for Maso Finiguerra as a goldsmith for 3 years but soon became an apprentice to the artist Fillipo Lippi at around the age of 17. From Fillipo Lippi he learned to paint more intricately and with more detail.

He then worked with Antonio del Pollaiuolo, painting frescoes on Florentine cathedrals and churches. At around 22 years of age he had his own workshop and was appointed to the confraternity of Florentine painters in 1472. He then employed Filipino Lippi, son of Fillipo Lippi as an apprentice. In 1481 it was requested by the Pope that he come to Rome to decorate the walls of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, which had just been completed. He painted frescoes of the life of Moses and the temptations of Christ. This was 30 years before Michaelangelo’s famous ceiling frescoes. He was very highly regarded around this time. …show more content…

Between 1478 and 1490 he produced some of his most famous artworks such as ‘The Birth of Venus’ and ‘Venus and Mars’. Once his popularity began to die down, Botticelli became sad and depressed. He lived on his own having never married, and suffered from mental illness. He died on May the 17th, 1510 at the age of 65 in Florence, his place of birth. After his death his name was forgotten, but in the 19th Century renewed appreciation for Florentine art and culture combined with the input of Victorian aesthete Walter Pater, brought more attention and interest to his

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