The stunning painting is beautifully presented in this documentary, but the flood of references to other works of art and quotations from classical and Renaissance writers might make the film a bit slow going for someone with no background at all in Renaissance cultural history.

The sixty-minute film, Botticelli’s Primavera (now available on Ideas Roadshow’s App for TV, tablet & phone and VOD and Amazon Prime) opens like a ceremonial lecture on the occasion of an exhibition opening or the start of an academic symposium: a familiar set piece in museums and art historical institutions, delivered by a well-known expert on a major work of art, summarizing and synthesizing current scholarship before presenting his or her own definitive position.