Great Paintings of the World with Andrew Marr

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (1x10)

Air date: Aug 08, 2020

It's a painting so magical that grown men have been said to faint while standing in front of it. The story behind Botticelli's The Birth of Venus is one of a tubby artist and a 15th Century traffic-stopping beauty played out against a backdrop of mind-boggling wealth and religious fanaticism. But over 500 years since its creation, why is this work still so mysterious and compelling?