Sandro Botticelli was born in 1444, midway through the 15th century. The Italian Renaissance had already had great art produced, and great architecture, and he came into a well-established Medici family, he was born mid-Florence, so he was in the heart of Renaissance art production. He died in 1510, which was when Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Ceilings in the 16th century in Rome. Botticelli was born in Florence and did most of his work in Florence and had a long history there. He did also go to Rome for certain projects. He painted one of the lower Fresco paintings in the Sistine Chapel ceiling. He is primarily a Florentine painter. Originally, The Birth of Venus was made as a Medici commission as a wedding present, probably for Lorenzo de’ Medici or one of his cousins. It was installed in their villa just outside the city of Florence, the Castillo Villa and it was in a bedroom chamber. This explains the kind of essay on love that these 3 paintings form. Botticelli was an artist that was much appreciated in the 15th century. Then he fell a little bit out of favor as the centuries passed. However, in the 19th century, he became very popular again with the pre-raphaelites painters. The mythical figure Venus is the Roman iteration of the goddess of love and beauty and the Greek equivalent is Aphrodite. She is front and center. She stands in a deep contrapositive pose and she covers herself, but only just barely. She is being blown in across the ocean. The Zephyr, the male wind god, and Chloris, the female mirror, can be seen, their breath as they blow her into shore. Flowers accompany her. Flowers are being spread around the old-fashioned roses and she's almost to the shoreline. There are gold coins and this is the island of Cyprus, and this is the goddess, Flora that holds out this beautiful pink fabric. Florence and the Medici in particular would have valued beautiful, brocaded fabric because that's how they made their money. Everything in this painting has a light touch. The goddess Flora is ready to drape her as she comes to shore. Some important symbolism: Venus is coming from the spiritual realm. Her nudity represents spiritual purity. So there is a Neoplatonic philosophy enacted here that nudity is of the physical realm. But instead, some would say that her nudity and her origin come from the spiritual realm so when she comes to Earth, to profane earth, she's clothed, she's wrapped in this fabric. The Medici were great collectors of classical art and they actually had one of these Venus figures in their collection. Botticelli because he was a member of their school, had access to all of this great art and progressive teachers. The Birth of Venus is an early example of a tempera on Canvas. This is called the modest Venus type. This pose is the contrapposto pose and then the covering up, but only just a little. This is a pose that the Greeks originated and it heightens the nudity. The source of the pose of Venus is the Aphrodite of Milos. The myth or the subject that the Greeks introduced didn't include female nudes until 350 BC. The male nude was introduced first and then later in the late classical period the female nudes was introduced. She was introduced as just taking a bath, and seeing her as she's disrobed, and then spies on her then realize that she's being watched and she covers up. Often times you'll see Venus with a vase or some sort of vessel that she uses for bathing herself and then a drape. So that's the backstory of that. Botticelli is keenly aware of this classical tradition. The inspiration of this Venus was Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci. She has an otherworldly look to her and she was Botticelli's favorite model. She was known in Florence as the most beautiful woman. She was actually married when she modeled for Botticelli. Botticelli used her for more than one of the figures in the series, Primavera.
Works Cited
Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, "Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus," in Smarthistory, December 5, 2015, accessed June 20, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/sandro-botticelli-the-birth-of-venus/.