Ana Debenedetti – författare

In this vivid account Ana Debenedetti examines the life and work of Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli through the lens of the organization of his workshop and the commercial strategies he devised to make his way in the very competitive art market in Florence. She looks at the remarkable career of this pivotal artist and his production with fresh eyes, presenting the analysis within the wider context of Florentine society and culture. Many of Botticelli’s most celebrated works, such as The Birth of Venus, are evaluated alongside less familiar forms such as tapestry and embroidery, showing the wide breadth of the artist’s oeuvre and his talent as a designer across media.

Now on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Raphael Cartoons are widely considered one of the glories of the Italian Renaissance. Made as full-scale design drawings for tapestries, their survival is remarkable given their original purpose and inherent fragility.This beautiful and compelling book presents a new consideration of Raphael's achievement, shedding fresh light on the Cartoons' history from their creation, their acquisition by the English Crown in 1623, to their loan to the South Kensington Museum by Queen Victoria in 1865 in memory of Prince Albert. Illustrated with entirely new digital photography, made to mark the 500th anniversary of the artist's death, the book focuses on Raphael's artistic practice and his legacy. The Cartoons were carefully designed to be reproduced, and they are shown here as never before.