{"product_id":"beauty-botticelli-in-florence-by-julian-spalding-9781843682608","title":"Beauty : Botticelli in Florence","description":"\u003cp\u003eBeauty is the beacon of God,' said Botticelli.  \n\u003cbr\u003e'No, it's not. Love is,' snapped his sister.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeauty: Botticelli in Florence imagines what Botticelli was feeling and thinking as he painted.  \n\u003cbr\u003eThe people he loved and despised, his private struggle between spirituality and sensuality, the tempestuous times he lived through – all come to life in his images.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe novel is a speculation based on the few facts known about Botticelli, informed by his paintings.  \n\u003cbr\u003eThere are many surprises. The Birth of Venus was a tapestry design.  \n\u003cbr\u003eAnd his famed self-portrait didn't depict him (as widely believed) but Pierfrancesco de Medici, who sued his powerful cousin Lorenzo for robbing him, abolished Florence's homophobic witch-hunts, funded Vespucci's journey to the New World and commissioned Botticelli's most famous works.  \n\u003cbr\u003eThere was boiling tension between him and Botticelli.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the first in a sequence of illustrated 'painting novels' that make sights as telling as words.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Julian Spalding","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56895110316405,"sku":"9781843682608","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781843682608.jpg?v=1773318146","url":"https:\/\/sherlockandpages.com\/products\/beauty-botticelli-in-florence-by-julian-spalding-9781843682608","provider":"Sherlock \u0026 Pages","version":"1.0","type":"link"}