Botticelli's Secret

Some 500 years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created work of unearthly beauty. An intimate associate of Florences unofficial rulers, the Medici, he was commissioned by a member of their family to execute a near-impossible project: to illustrate all 100 cantos of The Divine Comedy by the citys greatest poet, Dante Alighieri. A powerful encounter between poet and artist, sacred and secular, earthly and evanescent, these drawings produced a wealth of stunning images but were never finished. Botticelli declined into poverty and obscurity, and his illustrations went missing for 400 years. The nineteenth-century rediscovery of Botticellis Dante drawings brought scholars to their knees: this work embodied everything the Renaissance had come to mean. Today, Botticellis Primavera adorns household objects of every kind. This book is essential to explain not only how and why this artist became iconic, but why we need still need his workand the spirit of the Renaissancetoday. A New Yorker Best Book of 2022