Botticelli Reimagined

Renowned for his iconic The Birth of Venus, Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510) is arguably one of the greatest artists of all time. His work has inspired countless others, and his legacy is easy to see in everything from Degas’s drawings and Warhol’s first computer portrait to Jeff Koons’s album cover for Lady Gaga. As famous as he is today, Botticelli was quickly forgotten after his death, only to be rediscovered in the 19th century. Much of what we know of his art has been pieced together, as only three of his works are signed or documented. Botticelli’s continuing impact raises a number of questions: How does a painter acquire international fame? What made Botticelli a pop icon? This fascinating book, published to accompany a major exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, is the first to contrast Botticelli’s work with modern appropriations of it—including paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, videos, fashion, and design by artists such as Edgar Degas, Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Rene Magritte, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, and Bill Viola.

Mark Evans is the senior curator of paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He has written extensively on painting and is the author of numerous books on art, includingJohn Constable: The Making of a Master. Stefan Weppelmann is director of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.