Born in Florence, Botticelli lived at the time of the city's greatest intellectual and artistic flowering, which coincidesroughly with the reign of Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-92). He was trained orinfluenced by Fra Filippo Lippi and by the two Pollaiuolo brothers. In 1470 he painted the figure Fortitude, one of 7 'Virtues', commissionedfrom P. Pollaiuolo. Another teacher of influence was unquestionably Verrocchio. Thus Botticelli was prepared for his career by those masters who represented all that was most vital in Florentinepainting. To this he brought a rare talent fordraughtsmanship and a very unusual temperament.

19th-century writers on art have been responsiblefor creating an almost legendary figure, making Botticelli the embodiment of the Renaissance painter:in fact, he was by no means typical. The picture of Botticelli as a lyrical painter, bringing back tolife the myths of the Golden Age of Greecemust also be modified. It relies on those paintings Botticelli was commissioned to paint by patronssuch as Lorenzo the Magnificent, and hiscousin, Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici who set the subjects from Poliziano, MarsilioFicino and classical authors, and who restrained Botticelli's natural temperament. The most famous ofthese paintings of classical myths are The Birthof Venus, the Primavera, Pallas Subduing aCentaur and Venus and Mars. Thoughtful, butserene, they have coloured men's ideas aboutclassical antiquity since they were painted.With the madonnas and such large works as The Adoration of the Magi, they are the bestknown of Botticelli's works. Botticelli probably reveals himself more fully, however, in such paintings as The Calumny of Apelles, another classical subject, where the story from Lucian is told witheffects that are strained to the point of frenzy.The drawn and troubled figure of the Baptist inthe St Barnahas Altarpiece is obviously close infeeling to similar figures by A. Castagno, butthere is something about it which disturbs theserenity of the whole picture. Such elementsare even more pronounced in the Deposition and in the same subject in the Alte Pina.,Munich. We know that when Savonarola proclaimed his religious crusade against thevanities of Renaissance Florence at the end of Botticelli's life, Botticelli became one of his followers. Verylittle is certain about his life that is not basedupon Vasari, but it seems likely that in the Mystic Nativity which is dated 1500/1501, andwhich has an inscription referring to the Apocalypse and the 'troubles of Italy', the reconciliation between the angels and the fallen angels at the birth of Christ gives a significantclue to the divisions in Botticelli's own personality.

However great his inner turmoil, his lifeseems to have been relatively tranquil for thetimes. He won early recognition for his talent.Between 1481 and 1482 he was in Romepainting frescoes in the Sistine Chapel with anumber of the leading painters. Vasari claims thathe lost much of the reputation he had built upafter this by taking time from painting to illustrate Dante. These drawings show an incredible gift for draughtmanship (Beatrice and Dantein Paradise). Botticelli was prosperous enough by theend of the century to be running a large workshop, butwith the revolutions in painting brought aboutby Leonardo and Michelangelo, and his own ill-health in old age, Botticelli's popularity appears to havediminished. After his death he was often forgedbut seldom imitated.