Botticelli Reimagined

In preparation for its major spring exhibition Botticelli Reimagined, the V&A has cleaned and restored Sandro Botticelli’s Portrait of a Lady known as Smeralda Bandinelli (c.1470-5). The work has dispelled a myth that the sitter's red hair had been enhanced by former owner Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who bought the painting from Christie’s in 1867 for £20. The Pre-Raphaelite movement brought Botticelli’s art out of obscurity and artists have responded to it ever since. Using infrared reflectography, V&A experts have also discovered how Botticelli designed and painted this portrait. CLICK for more information.