Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi c. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, when he was rediscovered by the Pre-Raphaelites who stimulated a reappraisal of his work. Since then, his paintings have been seen to represent the linear grace of late Italian Gothic and some Early Renaissance painting, even though they date from the latter half of the Italian Renaissance period.
In addition to the mythological subjects for which he is best known today, Botticelli painted a wide range of religious subjects including dozens of renditions of the Madonna and Child , many in the round tondo shape and also some portraits.
Only one of Botticelli's paintings, the Mystic Nativity National Gallery , London is inscribed with a date , but others can be dated with varying degrees of certainty on the basis of archival records, so the development of his style can be traced with some confidence. He was an independent master for all the s, which saw his reputation soar. The s were his most successful decade, the one in which his large mythological paintings were completed along with many of his most famous Madonnas.
By the s, his style became more personal and to some extent mannered. His last works show him moving in a direction opposite to that of Leonardo da Vinci seven years his junior and the new generation of painters creating the High Renaissance style, and instead returning to a style that many have described as more Gothic or "archaic". Botticelli was born in the city of Florence in a house on the street still called Borgo Ognissanti.
He lived in the same area all his life and was buried in his neighbourhood church called Ognissanti "All Saints". Sandro was one of several children to the tanner Mariano di Vanni d'Amedeo Filipepi and his wife Smeralda Filipepi, and the youngest of the four who survived into adulthood. In Botticelli's father ceased his business as a tanner and became a gold-beater with his other son, Antonio. This profession would have brought the family into contact with a range of artists.
