Sandro Botticelli

b. 1445 and died 1510

A brilliant Italian painter of the Florentine school during the Early Renaissance. The Birth of Venus and Primavera are his two most familiar masterpieces. Details of Botticelli's life are vague. He became an apprentice around the age of fourteen, which indicates that he received a fuller education than other Renaissance artists. Probably by 1462 he was apprenticed to Fra Filippo Lippi and learned under his guidance. Influenced also by the monumentality of Masaccio's painting, it was from Lippi that Botticelli learned a more intimate and detailed manner. By 1470 Botticelli had his own workshop.