In this vivid account Ana Debenedetti examines the life and work of Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli through the lens of the organization of his workshop and the commercial strategies he devised to make his way in the very competitive art market in Florence. She looks at the remarkable career of this pivotal artist and his production with fresh eyes, presenting the analysis within the wider context of Florentine society and culture. Many of Botticelli’s most celebrated works, such as The Birth of Venus, are evaluated alongside less familiar forms such as tapestry and embroidery, showing the wide breadth of the artist’s oeuvre and his talent as a designer across media.

'The great merit of this book is to re-contextualise Botticelli's personality and oeuvre in his social and cultural milieu in a lively and captivating narrative, providing the reader with a detailed account of the latest scholarship on the subject with ease and clarity.' - Alessandro Cecchi, art historian, director of the Casa Buonarroti Foundation and author of Botticelli (2005)

Ana Debenedetti is Director of the Bemberg Foundation (Toulouse, France), and former Curator of Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She has published on Renaissance art, philosophy and poetry.