Sandro Botticelli

1 7.4

Italian Renaissance painter best known for The Birth of Venus and Primavera

proper noun
/ˈsændroʊ ˌbɒtɪˈtʃɛli/

: Sandro Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli painted several masterpieces during the Italian Renaissance, including 'The Birth of Venus.'

Examples

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence displays works by Sandro Botticelli that attract visitors from around the world.
Many art historians consider Sandro Botticelli a master of mythological themes in painting.
Look at Sandro Botticelli!
The famous Sandro Botticelli painted 'The Birth of Venus.'
Sandro Botticelli is celebrated for his iconic works such as 'Primavera' and 'The Birth of Venus.'
Art lovers admire Sandro Botticelli for his ability to depict beauty and mythology in his paintings.
In the world of art, Sandro Botticelli is a pivotal figure of the Italian Renaissance.

Synonyms

Botticelli

vsSandro Botticelli

6 8.1

An Italian painter from the late 1400s famous for myth and religious paintings like The Birth of Venus

is the full personal name form rather than the short surname

Surface Forms

Sandro Botticelli main

Morphology

Sandro + Botticelli

This is a proper name referring to a specific historical person; the identity and biographical meaning (Renaissance Italian painter, dates, notable works) are not compositionally derived from the constituent tokens. Proper nouns are arbitrary labels that require cultural or encyclopedic knowledge rather than knowledge of constituent word meanings, so a B1 learner who merely knows the parts would not infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Sandro Botticelli was actually born Alessandro, but he became known by a family nickname. One popular story says the name Botticelli comes from an older brother's nickname meaning 'little barrel' in Italian, and that catchy nickname stuck to the painter, so we still call him Botticelli today.