Sandro Botticelli Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua bought him a painting said to be a Botticelli out of historical interest "as from the hand of an artist by whom Your Highness has nothing, and who was the master of Leonardo da Vinci". That mistake is perhaps understandable, as although Leonardo was only some six years younger than Botticelli, his style could seem to a Baroque judge to be a generation more advanced. The "Birth of Venus" was displayed in the Uffizi from 1815, but is little mentioned in travellers' accounts of the gallery over the next two decades. The Berlin gallery bought
Madonna del Padiglione (Botticelli) Madonna del Padiglione (Botticelli) The Madonna and Child with Three Angels (also known as "Madonna del Padiglione") is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli, executed in 1493. It is housed in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana of Milan. The Virgin Mary is portrayed holding a book to her breast and gesturing to the Child, the latter being supported by an angel. The Italian name ("padiglione" meaning "pavilion") derives from the rich baldachin over the scene. There is an open book on a small prie-dieu between the Virgin and Child. Angels are pulling back the drapery of the pavilion. Together,