Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli at Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The Birth of Venus is undoubtedly one of the world’s most famous and appreciated works of art.
Painted by Sandro Botticelli between 1. XV century Italian painting, so rich in meaning and allegorical references to antiquity. The theme comes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a very important oeuvre of the Latin literature. Venus is portrayed naked on a shell on the seashore; on her left the winds blow gently caressing her hair with a shower of roses, on her right a handmaid (Ora) waits for the goddess to go closer to dress her shy body. The meadow is sprinkled with violets, symbol of modesty but often used for love potions. We can find clear references to the “Stanzas”, a famous poetic work by Agnolo Poliziano, a contemporary of Botticelli and the greatest Neoplatonic poet of the Medici court.
Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1483-85, tempera on panel, 68 x 109 5/8' (172.5 x 278.5 cm), Galeria degli Uffizi, Florence Speakers: Dr. The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. Massive range of art prints, posters & canvases. Quality UK framing & 100% Money Back Guarantee! Discussion on the Birth of Venus, painted by the Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli between 1484-1486.
The Birth of Venus is probably Botticelli's most famous painting. The picture hung in the country villa of the Medici along with 'Primavera', indicating that the work was commissioned by the Medici family. Venus rises from the.
Neoplatonism was a current of thought that tried to connect the Greek and Roman cultural heritage with Christianity. The Neoplatonic philosophical meaning is then clear: the work would mean the birth of love and the spiritual beauty as a driving force of life. The iconography of Venus is certainly derived from the classic theme of Venus Pudica, covering her private parts shyly. In Florence, another important work of art is the translation in sculpture of the same theme: the famous Medici Venus at the Uffizi Gallery.
The Medici commissioned the Birth of Venus, including the works Pallas and the Centaur and the Allegory of Spring at the Uffizi, and these belonged to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, a cousin of Lorenzo the Magnificent. As Poliziano was a great poet of written verses, so Botticelli was one of the greatest poets of the line and the drawing.
It is worth to mention the exceptional technique and the fine materials used to accomplish the work. The Birth of Venus is the first example in Tuscany of a painting on canvas. Moreover the special use of expensive alabaster powder, making the colors even brighter and timeless, is another characteristic that makes this work unique. Behind the interpretation of the painting as a tribute to classic literature, we can certainly read an ode to the wealthy Florentine family who commissioned the work: the beginning of the reign of love finally comes to Florence thanks to the Medici, their diplomatic skills and their vast culture.
The Birth of Venus, 1485 by Sandro Botticelli. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy. The Birth of Venus: A Novel (Reader's Circle) - Kindle edition by Sarah Dunant. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading. The Birth of Venus- Sandro Botticelli Background Info Artifact-The Birth of Venus Renaissance- Botticelli's life A credible painter Feminist Criticism Analysis Begins with an analysis of a how woman and femininity is depicted. Eugene-Emmanuel Amaury-Duval (1808-1885) La Naissance de Venus Oil on canvas 1862 108.9025 x 196.85 cm Musee des Beaux-Arts (Lille, Artois, France) Gustave Moreau (1826-1898) The Birth of Venus Oil on canvas.
This way Sandro Botticelli gives the art history one of its most sublime masterpieces. Rooms 1. 0- 1. 4 are dedicated to works by Botticelli; you’ll also find his famous Allegory of Spring, or Primavera, in this large room.
Review: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant . Detective stories, thrillers and historical novels have been pressed into service to explore gender- based issues of psychology, morality and injustice.
Sarah Dunant, the author of eight widely praised thrillers, has switched allegiance with The Birth of Venus, a seductive and ambitious novel set in late 1. Florence. Dunant's themes are archetypal: women and self- determination, women and creativity, women and marriage, women and God. Her spirited heroine, 1. Alessandra, has a lineage that stretches back to the earliest novels by women: not pretty, but handsome; poor at dancing, but brilliant at Latin and Greek; she lives for art rather than romance, but is still susceptible to emotion.
The antecedents of The Birth of Venus are clear, and sometimes quite recent - the picture Dunant draws of convent life as a . The puzzle is, how has Dunant created a story that is so fresh, vibrant and utterly compelling? Part of her success lies in the setting. The last 1. 0 years of the quattrocento were politically tumultuous for Florence.
The city's ruler, Lorenzo de Medici, died in 1. Piero could scarcely fill. The Dominican reformer Girolamo Savonarola held the populace in his sway for four terrifying years, preaching against moral corruption, material wealth and women (whom he banned first from church and then from the streets). All of this is eagerly dissected by Alessandra and her middle- aged husband Cristoforo, himself a political player and in mortal danger from . And it is tempered with just enough detail (the prostitutes with their regulation bells, the lemon paste used to whiten Alessandra's inky hands) to prick one's imagination. But when one thinks of Renaissance Florence, one thinks of art, and it is through her descriptions of frescoes and altar pieces, painted wedding chests and fine linens that Dunant hooks the reader.
The colours, the textures, the feel of the brush in Alessandra's uncertain hand as she paints a figure in her family's newly commissioned chapel; all are so vividly realised it is hard not to share the heroine's intoxication. This book is a love letter to the glories of the city (the writer now divides her time between Florence and London), and an extremely persuasive one. If the historical aspect of the novel is a departure for Dunant, she utilises the narrative skill she developed writing mysteries.
Sometimes this can go awry: the subplot involving the murder of several sexual miscreants is not especially convincing, and the book's denouement is hurried and unlikely. But for the most part this author knows how to turn a plot, whether she is writing about the unravelling of complex family tensions or the nearly disastrous impact Savonarola has on an impressionable artist brought to the city from the Low Countries. With its painterly background (Michelangelo has a shadowy role) and its heart- thumping emotional twists, this book could easily have been self- indulgent.
Dunant's passionate knowledge of her subject, the fluidity of her prose and her commitment to storytelling instead make it an accomplished delight.