Sandro Botticelli was a Florentine painter of the early Renaissance, famous for the soft, linear style that later generations rediscovered. He lived almost his whole life in the same Florence neighborhood and worked under Medici patronage. His best known works today are The Birth of Venus and Primavera, both mentioned in your document as “his best known works”.
He painted religious scenes, portraits, and many Madonna and Child tondi. In the 1470s and 1480s he reached his peak, creating his large mythological paintings and many of his finest Madonnas. The document notes that “the 1480s were his most successful decade”.
By the 1490s his style shifted, becoming more personal and a bit mannered, moving away from the new High Renaissance direction. He was described as “an outsider in the mainstream of Italian painting,” less interested in anatomy and perspective than his peers.
Forgotten for centuries, Botticelli was revived in the 19th century, especially by the Pre‑Raphaelites. Today his Venus remains one of the most iconic images in Western art, praised in your text for its “ethereal and timeless beauty” and lasting impact on modern imagination.