Sandro Botticelli: The Virgin and Child, 1480

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (1445-1510), known as Sandro Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. He belonged to the Florentine School, under the patronage of Lorenzo de Medici, a movement considered as a golden age in Renaissance art.  As well as the small number of mythological subjects which are his best known works today, he painted a wide range of religious subjects and also some portraits. He and his workshop were especially known for their Madonna and Childs, many in the round tondo shape. Botticelli's best-known works are The Birth of Venus and Primavera, both in the Uffizi in Florence.

At the height of his fame, Botticelli was one of the most esteemed artists in Italy. Such was his reputation that, in 1481, he was summoned by the Pope to Rome to help decorate the walls of the recently completed Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. He painted frescoes depicting scenes from the Life of Moses and the Temptations of Christ and was also responsible for a number of papal portraits. The nature of this task demonstrates how highly regarded he was around this time, and it was the only occasion he is known to have worked outside Florence.

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HC-1446: card size 7" x 5" (178mm x 127mm)