Famous Christian-inspired paintings of the Italian painter Sandro Botticelli will be shown in Britain next year.
The works set to be displayed include an illustration which forms part of Dante's famous depiction of Hell called Inferno, an illustration of a page from a Bible with special decorations, and a painting of a Bible which features in a portrait of Pope Leo the Tenth.
Eighty-two Botticelli works were originally owned by Queen Victoria, but they were sold to the Berlin Prints and Drawings Museum in Germany after it applied to buy the works privately in 1822 before they went for public auction in Britain.
The Berlin Prints and Drawings Museum paid what is £5million in today's money for the 82 Botticelli works.
Queen Victoria was unhappy that the works were bought privately before they were auctioned because she wanted them to stay in Britain.
The Berlin Museum is now loaning 30 Botticelli works to the Cortauld Gallery in London in March next year, however it's currently unknown how long they will be on display.
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Article by Aaron James
Tola Mbakwe is a multimedia journalist for Premier.
