The Private Life of a Masterpiece S07E02 - Sandro Botticelli: Mystic Nativity

Botticelli's Mystic Nativity is a painting that lovers of mystery fiction should love: a Renaissance masterpiece crammed with cryptic symbols disguising a dangerous message. But it is much more besides. Painted in 1500 by one of the most famous artists of all time, it is a supremely beautiful vision of maternal love, earthly harmony, and heavenly ecstasy. The painting also has a dark side though.

Botticelli carefully hid the Mystic Nativity's dangerous meaning. This programme reveals the recent chance discovery by a scholar which fully unlocks the painting's message.