Sandro Botticelli Prints – Portraits, Myth & Narrative Scenes
Sandro Botticelli prints connect recognisable faces with carefully arranged narrative and mythological settings. A small roundel can focus a portrait, while architecture or a shoreline organises groups across a much wider scene. Browse the collection alongside Old Master art, mythological prints and portrait painting.
A small image held within a portrait
Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel sets the sitter against a simple architectural opening, his hands framing the circular object below. The dark tunic forms a broad shape beneath the softly modelled face and reddish hair. Clear edges and restrained surrounding detail give both the sitter and the roundel a distinct presence.
A narrative unfolding across architecture
The Story of Virginia arranges several groups across a wide paved space in front of a highly ornamented building. The central arch and repeated columns give order to the many figures. Brightly differentiated garments help separate the encounters while the continuous architectural setting links the parts of the scene.
A shell at the edge of the sea
Birth of Venus places the standing figure between airborne bodies at the left and a clothed attendant on the shore. Flowing hair and fabric continue the movement across the image. The shell’s broad ribs give the centre a firm base beneath the more delicate pattern of flowers and waves.
Related artists and collections
Compare sacred and classical bodies in Parmigianino, portrait focus in Leonardo da Vinci and narrative arrangement in Ubaldo Gandolfi. Further Old Master prints broadens the historical range, while mythology in art follows the imagined subjects and their visual settings.
Read more in our guide to paintings of saints.



















