republic of florenceconcept:movement high renaissance

The Birth of Venus

Name: Provenio Provenance Knowledge Graph
License: https://provenio.art/terms

Tempera on canvas by Sandro Botticelli, c.1484-1486. Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Depicts Venus emerging from the sea on a large shell, blown to shore by Zephyr and Aura, received by a Hora (or Grace) with a floral cloak. One of the most famous images of the Renaissance.

Notes

·One of the first large-scale canvases in Italian Renaissance painting — the choice of canvas rather than panel links the work to ancient precedents described by Pliny.
·The model for Venus is traditionally said to be Simonetta Vespucci, the beloved of Giuliano de' Medici, though this identification is not documented.
·The composition draws on literary descriptions by Angelo Poliziano (Stanze per la Giostra, 1475-1478): 'a young woman with inhuman face driven on a shell wafted to shore by playful Zephyrs'.
·Unlike the Primavera, the Birth of Venus was not recorded in inventories of the Medici until 1550. It was clearly kept in a private domestic context.
·The work embodies the Neoplatonic concept of Venus Caelestis (celestial Venus) — the highest form of divine beauty generating love in the human soul.