Florence museum takes legal action against French fashion house.

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence announced on Monday that it is suing luxury fashion house Jean Paul Gaultier for the "unauthorised use" of The Birth of Venus by Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli.

The French fashion house used the image "on several garments, photos of which it published on its website and social networks", the Uffizi said in a statement, attaching screenshots showing the painting reproduced on clothes, including trousers, a dress and a scarf.The Uffizi said it would be seeking damages from Gaultier which reproduced the masterpiece "without permission" and failed to pay rights - the Uffizi said - adding that a letter it sent to the Parisian fashion house in April had been ignored.

One of the star attractions of the Florentine museum, the work was painted circa 1485 and features the goddess of love and beauty standing on a giant scallop shell.

Another Botticelli masterpiece in the Uffizi, La Primavera, made news headlines in July when climate protesters glued their hands to the protective glass in front of the painting.