The Birth of Venus (Botticelli)

The Birth of Venus is a painting by Sandro Botticelli.

Related Topics:
Painting - Sandro Botticelli

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This famous artwork hangs in the Uffizi gallery in Florence. It is tempera on canvas, measuring 172.5 cm tall by 278.5 cm wide.

Related Topics:
Uffizi - Florence - Tempera - Canvas

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The painting the depicts the Goddess Venus emerging from the sea as a full grown woman, as described in Greek mythology.

Related Topics:
The Goddess Venus - Sea - Greek mythology

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This large picture by Botticelli may have been, like the "Allegory of Spring", painted for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco's Villa di Castello, around 1483, or even before. Some scholars suggest that the Venus painted for di Pierfrancesco and mentioned by Giorgio Vasari may have been a different, now lost, work than the painting in the Uffizi. Some experts 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 place by the sea. Whatever inspired the artist, there are clear similarities to Ovid's "Metamorphosis" and "Fasti", as well as to Poliziano's "Verses".

Related Topics:
Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco - 1483 - Giorgio Vasari - Giuliano di Piero de' Medici - Ovid - Poliziano

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The classical Goddess Venus is emerging from the water on a shell, being blown towards shore up the Zephyrs, symbols of spiritual passions, and with one of the Ores, goddesses of the seasons, who is handing her a flowered cloak. According to some commentators, the naked goddess isn't then a symbol of earthly but of spiritual love, like an ancient marble statue (which might have inspired the eighteenth century sculptor, Antonio Canova, by its candor), slim and long-limbed, with harmonious features.

Related Topics:
Zephyr - Ores - Cloak

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The effect, none the less, is distinctly pagan considering it was made at a time and place when most artworks still 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 "pagan" influenced works perished.

Related Topics:
Pagan - Roman Catholic - Savonarola

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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. Such details, whether artistic errors or artistic licence, do little to diminish the great beauty of the painting, and some have suggested it prefigures mannerism.

Related Topics:
Realism - Leonardo da Vinci - Raphael - Beauty - Mannerism

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