The Transmogrification of Venus to Mary in the Works of Sandro Botticelli

The works of Sandro Botticelli are among the most revered of renaissance painting. The sweeping curves of his women and the ethereal beauty of their gazes are recognized instantaneously: from a grandmother in a small town to the cognoscenti of New York or Paris, few can claim to be unmoved by his work. Patronized by the Vatican as well as one of the most rich and powerful Florentines of his time, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, Botticelli was hugely popular in his own day. His most magnificent work, the Primavera, as well as The Birth of Venus, Camilla and the Centaur, and Mars and Venus contain entirely mythological figures whose significances have been debated by various art historians for centuries. Born as Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni (Filpeppi was his real last name, but it is said to only really have been used by his brother Simone) in 1444 or 1445, Sandro Botticelli was the youngest of four siblings. The name Botticelli later was used after a nickname given to his brother meaning keg or barrel. At the time of his birth, his family lived in the Santa Maria Novella area of Florence with his mother, Smerelda, and his father Mariano, who worked as a tanner. When Sandro was about fourteen or fifteen years old, his family moved into a house next to (and owned by) the Rucellai family, who later commissioned work from Leon Battista Alberti who was a great influence to the young Sandro. As a student, he had potential; however, he was "restless," according to Vasari. Sandro's father was patient and moved him from one school into another before he had him apprentice with a goldsmith in hopes that that might be of interest. However, while visiting other workshops, Sandro discovered that painting was more to his liking and decided to take that up instead (Venturi 15-17).
Sandro's apprentiship in the shop of Fra Filippo Lippi began around 1461. He was so lucky to be placed with such an accomplished and renowned master, it would be hard to argue that

Cited: Brown, Dan. The DaVinci Code: Special Illustrated Edition. Doubleday Publishing Company (Division of Randomhouse). New York. November 2004. Dempsey, Charles. Mercurius Ver: The Sources of Botticelli 's Primavera. Journal of The Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 31, 251-273. The Warburg Institute Publishing. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00754390%281968%2931% 3C251%3AMVTSOB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z Hartt, Frederick and Wilkins, David G. History of Italian Renaissance Art, Fifth Edition. Prentice Hall, Inc./Abrams, Inc. New York. 2003. Venturi, Lionello. Botticelli: Volume I. Phaidon Press. Zirpolo, Lilian. Botticelli 's "Primavera:" A Lesson for the Bride. Woman 's Art Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Autumn 1991-Winter 1992), 24-28.Woman 's Art, Inc. Publishing.