Sando Botticelli was an influential painter of the Italian Renaissance who was apprenticed to a goldsmith before becoming apprenticed to painter Fra Filippo Lippi. By the late 1460s, Botticelli was associated with Andrea del Verrocchio, in whose studio a young Leonardo da Vinci was also working. In the early 1470s, Botticelli was producing art for the Medici family, one of the richest of Europe and influential patrons of Renaissance art. Pope Sixtus IV called Botticelli to Rome to assist in the decoration of the newly finished Sistine Chapel. Under Perugino, who was in charge of the project, Botticelli was assigned three major works. He went on to become one of Italy's leading masters.