The two men in Sandro Botticelli's life could not have been more
different. One was a collector of rare gems, a lover and a poet.
The other was a prophet best remembered for consigning vanities
to the fire. Botticelli - the nickname of Alessandro di Mariano
Filipepi (c1445-1510) - lived in the shadow of these two
charismatic figures, whose names form the subtitle of the
exhibition dedicated to the sublime painter at the Musée du
Luxembourg in Paris: Botticelli: From Lorenzo the Magnificent to
Savonarola. One of Botticelli's stellar influences was a wise
diplomat who kept the peace between Italy's city states and
whose reign was remembered as a civilised golden age. But
perhaps it is the man who claimed to speak directly with God,
and whose violent zealous language won him adoring,
unquestioning followers, who is more relevant today. On his
deathbed in 1492, Lorenzo de' Medici asked to see the other man,
the preacher from Ferrara who had gripped the imagination of
Florence with lurid and explicit predictions o