Sandro Botticelli: A Genius Facing Troubled Times

Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, better known by his nickname "Botticelli," was born in Florence, Italy on March 1, 1445. Less than a century later, the biographer Giorgio Vasari, who wrote about the lives of many great painters, would write much of what we think we know about Botticelli today. Unfortunately, historians have great doubts about the accuracy of some of what Italy's first art historian wrote. Vasari coined the term "Renaissance" and said that during his time, this movement was at its "Golden Age". He constantly praised the Medici clan throughout "Lives of the Artists" which was a good idea for those wanting to live well in Florence at that time. We may safely conclude that Botticelli was as influenced by their wishes as he was by the instruction of the artists under whom he studied.

Mariano, Botticelli's father, came from a working class family. "Disturbed by the boy's whimsical mind, his father placed him with a goldsmith, a friend of his named Botticello, a quite competent master of that trade in those days." (Vasari, 224) Botticello's technique, rich with Gothic forms, would influence Botticelli throughout his career, but this work brought him into contact with many artists, and he desperately wanted to pursue painting as his vocation. His father acquiesced, apprenticing him to the Early Renaissance artist Fra Filippo Lippi.