The Virgin Adoring the Child

1478–1479

The Pazzi conspiracy and the fresco of the executions

After the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478, in which Giuliano de' Medici was assassinated, Botticelli painted for Florence's customs house a large fresco of the hanging of the plot's leaders, a “pittura infamante” with which Florence humiliated traitors. It was his first major fresco commission; the figure of Francesco Salviati, Archbishop of Pisa, was removed in 1479 after protests from the Pope.

1480s

Lorenzo's circle: Ficino, Pico, Poliziano

Botticelli frequented Lorenzo the Magnificent's Platonic Academy, where he met the humanists, poets and philosophers Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Angelo Poliziano; the influence of Neoplatonism shows in his secular paintings.

1481

Summoned to Rome: the Sistine Chapel

In 1481 Pope Sixtus IV summoned Botticelli and other prominent Florentine and Umbrian artists to fresco the walls of the newly completed Sistine Chapel; the Florentine contribution is thought to be part of a peace deal between Lorenzo de' Medici and the papacy. Botticelli painted three of the fourteen large scenes — the Temptations of Christ, the Youth of Moses and the Punishment of the Sons of Corah — and a large share of the imagined portraits of popes.

1481

A printed Dante illustrated from Botticelli's drawings

The first printed Dante of 1481 carried engravings by the goldsmith Baccio Baldini after Botticelli's drawings: one engraving was planned for each of the hundred cantos, but only 19 were engraved and most copies have just two or three. A leading painter's attempt to design the illustrations of a printed book was unprecedented, but it seems to have been something of a flop.

20 February 1482

His father's death and the return from Rome

On 17 February 1482 Botticelli's contract for the Sistine Chapel was extended, but three days later his father died and the painter had to return to Florence.

1490–1498

Savonarola's preaching and Botticelli

From 1490 Savonarola preached in Florence; according to Vasari, Botticelli became his follower, gave up painting and fell into hardship. Modern historians reject this, and the extent of the preacher's influence remains uncertain — Botticelli's brother Simone was the clearer follower.