Botticelli

Book excerpt: "Sandro Botticelli ranks as one of the most outstanding artists of the Renaissance. Regarded as the inventor of the mythology painting and the creator of the first life-sized nude in modern painting, Botticelli also painted numerous portraits of the leading figures in Florentine society and witnessed the upsurge of religious fanaticism, channelling it productively into his work. Our notion of Renaissance art has been shaped by his key works Primavera and the Arrival (or Birth) of Venus. This volume, which provides the most detailed catalogue raisonne of Botticelli's paintings to date, examines every aspect of his creative output from the most recent methodical point of view."--Jacket.