“He lived in a haphazard fashion,” wrote Italian Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari in his biography of 15th-century Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli. “As was his wont.” Whether or not this was true, what is certain is that Botticelli created a graciously drawn world of serenity and beauty in his paintings of religious scenes, mythological stories, and portraits of the Florentine elite.

The rambunctious son of a tanner, who initially apprenticed to a goldsmith before he discovered painting and trained in the studio of Fra Filippo Lippi, the talented Botticelli attracted A-list patrons such as the Medici, Florentine nobility, and Pope Sixtus V.

He was successful in his lifetime and then mostly forgotten until the Pre-Raphaelites rediscovered him in the late 19th century, but now Botticelli is a household name. The faces he immortalized now grace socks, aprons, puzzles, magnets, and oven mitts. There’s a line of marinara sauce named after him. Olive oil, too.

Botticelli, we’re guessing, would probably prefer to attach his name to his artwork. With that in mind, we’ve ranked 10 of Botticelli’s most famous works below.

10. The Trials of Moses (1481–82) 

Sandro Botticelli, Trials of Moses. Courtesy of the Vatican Museums.

Michelangelo is the artist generally associated with the decoration of the Sistine Chapel, but Botticelli painted three frescoes for the chapel’s walls—both for the cycle about the life of Christ and the parallel cycle of the life of Moses. Here we see Moses (conveniently always wearing the same yellow robe and emerald green cloak) moving through different events of his youth.

9. The Adoration of the Magi (c. 1478/82)

Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi (1475). Via Wikimedia Commons.

Baby Jesus barely competes with the architectural ruins that are the backdrop for this Adoration of the Magi—a scene usually set in a barn or stable. Despite the distracting ancient temple that frames this moment, Botticelli set a humble devotional tone by focusing on the wise men revering Christ (instead of dressing them in luxurious clothes and lining them up in a procession, as was the norm).

8. Portrait of a Young Man (ca. 1480–85)

Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Man

In the 14 portraits securely attributed to Botticelli most sitters look in the direction of the viewer but don’t unflinchingly stare at us, as does this brown-eyed young man who is posed en face. Adopting a frontal pose normally reserved for Christ, this anonymous sitter notably isn’t tilted sideways or in profile, making this memorable portrait one of Botticelli’s most famous works.

7. Cestello Annunciation (1489–90)

Sandro Botticelli, Cestello Annunciation (1481). Collection of the Uffizi Galleries.

There’s electricity between the hands of the archangel Gabriel and a demure Virgin Mary in this Annunciation, commissioned by moneychanger Benedetto di ser Francesco Guardi for his family’s chapel. The scene is intentionally sparse and modest, but it’s balanced by the impressive original frame that includes gilded Corinthian columns, Latin inscriptions, and of course, emblems that identify the patron.

6. Virgin and Child, and Angels (Madonna of the Magnificat) (c. 1483)

Sandro Botticelli, Virgin and Child, and Angels (Madonna of the Magnificat) (c. 1483). Collection of the Morgan Library.

This tondo of a Madonna gracefully writing a verse from the song of Mary—magnificat anima mea dominum—was so immediately popular that other artists started copying it right away. (One such copy was purchased by Pierpont Morgan, for example, and is now at The Morgan Library & Museum. Another copy is held at the Louvre.)

5. Portrait of Giuliano de’ Medici (c. 1478/80)

Sandro Botticelli, Giuliano de’ Medici (c. 1478/1480. Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

When members of the Pazzi family (which, incidentally, means crazy in Italian) wanted to oust the powerful Medicis, they plotted an assassination attempt during Easter high mass in the Florentine Duomo. Lorenzo the Magnificent survived but his brother Giuliano, seen here, was murdered and Botticelli painted this commemorative portrait soon after.

4. Mars and Venus (c. 1485)

Sandro Botticelli, Venus and Mars (c. 1485). Courtesy of the National Gallery, London.

Nothing will disturb the slumber of this utterly spent god of war, Mars, not even a gorgeous Venus, a wasp’s nest, or a satyr tooting a conch directly in his ear. In this wide format painting that was probably a spalliera (a panel made for newlyweds, to be used as a headboard or fitted above a cassone marriage chest), the differences between men and women are in full comic view. The subtle comedy makes this one of Botticelli’s most famous works.

3. Young Man Holding a Medal of Cosimo de’ Medici (c. 1474–75)

Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Man with the Medal of Cosimo de’ Medici the Elder (c. 1474–1475). Collection of the Uffizi Galleries,

Botticelli’s likeness of this handsome (and anonymous) young man is alluring, but the real feat here is the portrait medallion—a three-dimensional pastiglia that imitates an actual medal of banker and patron of the arts Cosimo de’ Medici

2. Primavera (c. 1480)

Sandro Botticelli, Primavera (circa 1482). Courtesy of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

Botticelli included no fewer than 138 accurately depicted plant species in this lush springtime scene, one of the artist’s best-known paintings despite the fact that its precise meaning remains a mystery. Some believe the painting was a Medici wedding gift. Learn more about this luminous image here.

1. Birth of Venus (ca. 1485)

Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (c. 1845). Photo: Uffizi Gallery, The Yorck Project.

This iconic painting of a hairswept love goddess has birthed countless copies and homages (hello, Beyoncé’s floral birth announcement photo, which went viral in 2017). Likely commissioned by a Medici to decorate a villa, the goddess surfing ashore on a scallop shell attracts crowds at Florence’s Uffizi Galleries where she’s a must-see highlight.  Some even believe this iconic image is a coded celebration of fertility.