Botticelli Past and Present

Botticelli Past and Present Synopsis

The recent exhibitions dedicated to Botticelli around the world show, more than ever, the significant and continued debate about the artist. Botticelli Past and Present - based on the proceedings of an international conference held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2016 in conjunction with an exhibition exploring the reception of Botticelli's art from its inception to the present day - engages with this debate. The book comprises four thematic chapters, spanning four centuries of Botticelli's artistic fame and reception from the fifteenth century. Each chapter comprises a number of essays and includes a short introduction which positions them within the wider scholarly literature on Botticelli. The chapters are organised chronologically beginning with discussion of the artist and his working practice in his own time, moving onto the progressive rediscovery of his work from the late eighteenth to the turn of the twentieth century, through to his enduring impact on contemporary art and design. Expertly written by researchers and eminent art historians and richly illustrated throughout, the broad range of essays in this book make a valuable contribution to Botticelli studies.