Allegoric paintings (1480s)

The 1480s were Botticelli's most productive years. While he was one of the most desirable painters in Florence even before he left for Rome, by the time he returned, after the large project working on the frescoes for the Pope, his reputation was firmly established. He gained commissions from the families in high society who increasingly chose classical themes for the luxurious decoration of their town houses.

In this period Botticelli created the large format mythological and allegorical paintings (Primavera, Pallas and the Centaur, Venus and Mars, Birth of Venus) that are some of his best-known works. These paintings constitute an unusually homogenouos group, not only in pictorial content but also in stylistic expression. Despite research by art historians that has continued for over a century, they are still a mystery. The difficulty in deciphering them lies in the fact that there are no known predecessors, nor can their pictorial programs be conclusively derived from written sources. Rather, they are a blending of classical and modern sources. These paintings were not originally intended to be seen by a larger audience, but were hung in private rooms, tailored precisely to the requirements of the client and reflecting their particular interests in the classical body of thought. The study of antiquity was particularly encouraged in the humanist circle associated with the Medicis, and Botticelli's patrons also belonged to it.

The series of mythological paintings is brought to a close by two frescoes which originally decorated the country villa of Lemmi, near Florence