Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, c. 1486
The Birth of Venus is a renowned painting that is still referenced in our culture today. Television show America’s Next Top Model had used a photo shoot to recreate this famous piece of artwork. The Birth of Venus was commissioned by the Medici family and belonged to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici. The painting was based off of a poem by Angelo Poliziano, Stanze per la giostra; however, the poem was based off of an ode by Hesiod. This painting depicts a story by Hesiod, which describes what happens after Venus is created. In The Birth of Venus we see the wind Gods, Zephyr and Aura, blowing Venus to shore after she rises from the sea triumphantly. Here we see the handmaid, Ora, wait for Venus to come closer to shore so she can dress the goddess to transform her into a mother and saint. It is only right that a painting like this belongs to the Medici family due to its uniqueness. The Birth of Venus was the first example of a painting on canvas in Tuscany. As well as the distinctive use of alabaster powder which makes the colors pop that much more.
The Birth of Venus has the little details that make this painting even more unique. There is a ton of movement throughout the painting such as the leaves on the trees, the waves of the sea, Venus’s hair, the cloth on the figures, the cloth that Ora is holding and the violets blowing in the wind. This painting was the first large-scale painting to have been produced in the Renaissance and Botticelli even created his own pigment for it. He created his pigment by using a little fat and egg whites. Venus reminds us of classical antiquity except for the fact that her neck is elongated to help create this goddess figure.
The Birth of Venus just speaks symbolism; one of course being that it takes place in the sea to enforce that Venus (Aphrodite) was born from the sea. The shell she is standing in (typically a conch shell) is used as a symbol for feminism and the violets present in this piece are used to represent love. Here we see the modest Venus pose once again, the way she is covering her breasts with her one arm and allowing her hair to cover her pubis area with her other hand. The meaning of this piece is the birth of love and beauty, as well as the importance love and beauty are in the Greek and Roman cultures. The Birth of Venus was significant in the fact that during this time, in the Renaissance, many paintings were Christian themed and depicting the Virgin Mary. Not many nudes were shown until this painting.
As one can see, The Birth of Venus is distinctive for its time for many reasons, the fact that it displayed a nude female in the time of Christian art or maybe it’s the fact that the colors in this painting are still vibrant to this day. Either way it is safe to say that this painting has made an impact since the Renaissance. I guarantee that if someone says the name of this painting many people would know exactly what they are talking about because it is that famous. For my next post, I am going to tackle two more famous paintings having to do with the female nude, Edouard Manet’s Olympia and Titian’s Venus of Urbino.
Citation:
http://www.uffizi.org/artworks/the-birth-of-venus-by-sandro-botticelli/
http://www.artble.com/artists/sandro_botticelli/paintings/birth_of_venus
Aphrodite (Venus) 