The Birth of Venus

Italian activists stuck photographs of climate change devastation to a glass panel protecting Botticelli's famed Birth of Venus painting at the Uffizi museum in Florence on Feb. 13.

The Italian tourism ministry thought it had a sure-fire way to bring travelers into the country: Turning a 15th century art icon into a 21st century "virtual influencer."

The Uffizi museum in Florence said on Oct. 10 it was suing French fashion house Jean Paul Gaultier for "unauthorized use" of Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus," its Italian Renaissance masterpiece.

Painted by Sandro Botticelli in the mid-1480s, it shows the nude goddess Venus standing on a giant scallop shell, covering her loins with her long blonde hair.

A rare Botticelli painting depicting Jesus Christ sold at auction for more than $45 million on Jan. 27 at Sotheby's in
New York, a year after a record $92 million was paid for a work by the Italian Renaissance master.