The Birth of Venus
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| - | Whatever inspired the artist, there are clear similarities to [[Ovid]]'s ''Metamorphoses'' and ''Fasti'', as well as to [[Poliziano]]'s ''Verses''. | + | Whatever inspired the artist, there are clear similarities to [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' and ''[[Fasti]]'', as well as to [[Poliziano]]'s ''Verses''. |
| The classical goddess Venus emerges from the water on a shell, blown towards shore by the [[Zephyrus|Zephyr]]s, symbols of spiritual passions. She is joined by one of the [[Horae]], goddesses of the seasons, who hands her a flowered [[cloak]]. | The classical goddess Venus emerges from the water on a shell, blown towards shore by the [[Zephyrus|Zephyr]]s, symbols of spiritual passions. She is joined by one of the [[Horae]], goddesses of the seasons, who hands her a flowered [[cloak]]. | ||
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The Birth of Venus is a painting by Sandro Botticelli. It depicts the goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as a full grown woman, arriving at the sea-shore (Venus Anadyomene motif). The painting is currently in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Origins
This large picture may have been, like the Primavera, painted for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici's Villa di Castello, around 1482, or even before. Some scholars suggest that the Venus painted for Lorenzo and mentioned by Giorgio Vasari may have been a different work, now lost. Some art historians believe it to be a celebration of the love of Giuliano di Piero de' Medici (who died in the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478) for Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci, who lived in Portovenere, a town by the sea with a local tradition of being the birthplace of Venus. This claim, however, is dismissed as "romantic nonsense" by noted historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto:
The vulgar assumption, for instance, that she was Botticelli's model for all his famous beauties seems to be based on no better grounds than the feeling that the most beautiful woman of the day ought to have modeled for the most sensitive painter.
Whatever inspired the artist, there are clear similarities to Ovid's Metamorphoses and Fasti, as well as to Poliziano's Verses.
The classical goddess Venus emerges from the water on a shell, blown towards shore by the Zephyrs, symbols of spiritual passions. She is joined by one of the Horae, goddesses of the seasons, who hands her a flowered cloak.
The effect is distinctly pagan, considering it was made at a time and place when most artworks depicted Roman Catholic themes. It is somewhat surprising that this canvas escaped the flames of Savonarola's bonfires, where a number of Botticelli's other alleged pagan influenced works perished. Botticelli was very close to Lorenzo de' Medici. Because of their friendship and Lorenzo's power, this work was spared from Savonarola's fires and the disapproval of the church.
The anatomy of Venus and various subsidiary details do not display the strict classical realism of Leonardo da Vinci or Raphael. Most obviously, Venus has an improbably long neck, and her left shoulder slopes at an anatomically unlikely angle. Some have suggested it prefigures mannerism.
Classical inspiration
The painting was one of a series which Botticelli produced, taking as inspiration written descriptions by Pliny the Elder, Leonidas of Tarentum, Antipater of Sidon, Archias and the 2nd century historian Lucian of masterpieces of Ancient Greece which had long since disappeared. The ancient painting by Apelles was called Venus Anadyomene, "Anadyomene" meaning "rising from the sea"; this title was also used for Botticelli's painting, The Birth of Venus only becoming its better-known title in the 19th century. The central figure of Venus in the painting is very similar to Praxiteles' sculpture of Aphrodite.
In classical antiquity, the sea shell was a metaphor for a woman's vulva.
The pose of Botticelli's Venus is reminiscent of the Venus de' Medici, a marble sculpture from classical antiquity in the Medici collection which Botticelli had opportunity to study.
