Why Was Botticelli Called Botticelli?
The painter we call Botticelli was born Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi. Botticelli was a nickname meaning little barrel, and it was not even his own. It seems to have belonged first to his family, and then stuck to him for life.
One of the most famous names in art was really a household joke about a barrel.
The man who painted the Birth of Venus signed his life away under a plump little word.
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The man behind the nickname
His real name was Alessandro, Sandro for short, son of a Florentine tanner named Mariano Filipepi. Nothing in that name hints at barrels or beauty.
In Renaissance Florence almost everyone carried a nickname, and they spread easily from one family member to the next.
Little barrel
Botticello means a small barrel or cask in Italian. The most repeated explanation is that the nickname first belonged to Sandro's older brother, a round figure known as the little barrel, and then attached itself to the whole household, Sandro included.
Other accounts tie it to a brother who worked beating gold. Either way, the painter inherited the name rather than earning it, and by the time he was famous nobody called him Filipepi.
The name that outlived the man
It is a strange twist of history. The artist behind the Birth of Venus and the Primavera is known to the whole world by an affectionate joke about a barrel, while his actual family name faded away.
For the full life, from Medici favorite to the bonfire years, start with the complete Botticelli story.
Common questions about Botticelli's name
What was Botticelli's real name? Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, known as Sandro.
What does Botticelli mean? Little barrel, from the Italian botticello.
Where did the nickname come from? Most likely from a stout older brother, then the family as a whole.
Did he choose it? No. He inherited it and it simply stuck.
Is it his surname? Not originally. His family name was Filipepi.
A barrel that became a brand
Five centuries on, Botticelli is a name that sells exhibition tickets around the world, and almost no one remembers it began as a teasing word for a heavy set brother. Some of the grandest names in art started as the smallest of jokes.