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a pen while rubbing out unwanted marks. He would then execute a design with brush and carbon ink. This enabled him to define the anatomical details, delineate the main features of the design, such as drapery, and with large brushstrokes for which diluted ink was used to model as in a watercolour. The application varies according to the colour and has an effect on the transition from shadow to light. Furthermore, it is discernable that the preparatory design is more precise in areas where the ���watercolouring��� is not used.76 Often described as ���archaic���, even ���deliberately retardaire���, Botticelli���s style seems to conform to Savonarola���s demand for a more simplified imagery.77 However, this linear style was already apparent in the works of the 1480s.78 This decade was marked by the circle of Humanists, including Marsilio Ficino and Politian, who gathered around Lorenzo de��� Medici. Being a ���learned painter���, as Vasari describes him, Botticelli was greatly influenced by contemporary Neoplatonic philosophies.79 According to Hemsoll, the ���beauty��� of Botticelli���s women is an effort to reconcile classical tradition and Christian religion; the image of Venus with Mary.80 Having developed a dematerialised and intellectualised concept of beauty, this expression of the divine and driving force of the universe is in reference to the human body, of which Ficino spoke precisely in terms of ���line���.81 Even more precise references to Botticelli���s concept of beauty can be found in the work of the poet and humanist Petrarch who was also imitated in the Medici circles by both Politian and Lorenzo.82 The essence of Petrarch���s poetry is in the unattainability of HYLAND 26