Portrait of a Young Man by Botticelli

Portrait of a Young Man by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1483, is a tempera and oil portrait painting of a long-haired youth in hat and suit with tied collar against a dark background. The clear, classical modelling, chiaroscuro light and shadow, and sensitive drawing of the subject’s features reflect the values of individualism and humanism that were a hallmark of the Renaissance age. Botticelli’s clean, classical contours in tempera show him as one of the great draftsmen of Western art. Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) was a Florentine painter of the of the early Italian Renaissance who apprenticed under the master Filippo Lippi. With strong Gothic influences, the mature work of Botticelli reflected a study of antique classical sculpture and was noted for its linear grace and rhythm, flattened relief-like forms with strong contours, and subtle colouring. The complexity of meanings in Botticelli’s compositions, from sources drawn from classical antiquity, mythology and philosophy, enthraled scholars for centuries.