Is there reliable evidence that Sandro Botticelli was gay?

I think the ‘evidence’ underlying theories about Botticelli's sexuality is that he never married, never seemed keen on the idea of marriage, painted beautiful young men, and once had a charge laid against him (although no resulting prosecution) alleging that "Sandro di Botticello si tiene un garzone" (“Sandro Botticelli keeps a boy”) with a clear implication that this was for sexual purposes. read more

Michelangelo's contemporaries Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Benvenuto Cellini and Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma) were publicly charged with sodomy (Leonardo was even imprisoned for two months), and Michelangelo, like them, was offered sexual "services" by the ragazzi or street boys who worked as apprentices in the art studios. read more

Sandro’s father placed him as an apprentice in the studio of Fra Filippo Lippi. Lippi was one of the artists most frequently by the Medici family at that time. To Sandro’s father, Lippi offered a consistent and reliable source of work for his son. read more