Alessandro Filipepi, most commonly known as Botticelli, was born in Florence in 1444/5. For much of his life, he was closely allied to the house of the Medici, in whose sphere Botticelli's most important paintings were created, and whose patronage helped to establish him as a painter of considerable wealth and prestige. Botticelli presents the works of Sandro Botticelli, within the context of his life and the society in which he lived. The artist's early development is examined, and the two main influences on his work, the House of Medici and the friar Savonarola, and how these influences manifested themselves in his paintings.