Painting #C02 - The Birth of Venus

The Birth of Venus
- Botticelli (c.1445-1510, Italian)
- tempera on canvas (173 × 279 cm) c.1486
- Galleria degli Uffizi (Florence)

L-R: Zephyrus, Chloris, Venus, Horae.

"It depicts Venus, having emerged from the sea as an adult woman, and being blown to the Cyprus sea-shore to be clothed. Roses are flying in the air on the left, and spring flowers are imprinted on the clothes to the right.

"Botticelli's Venus was so pleasing that her unusually long neck and unusually slanted shoulder are usually not noticed.


"The painting was commissioned by the Medici family of Florence.

Venus de' Medici

"The pose of Botticelli's Venus is reminiscent of the Venus de' Medici, a marble replica sculpture from classical antiquity in the Medici collection which Botticelli had opportunity to study."   Source: Wikipedia

Botticelli's Self-Portrait

"基督教提倡禁欲，在其支配下的欧洲，长期以来甚至把观看裸体当成一种罪过。是神话将画家们从这样的禁忌中解放出来，因为希腊众神原本最为神圣、最自然的模样就是裸体。在文艺复兴时代，裸体画因为成为绘画的种类之一而得到公众的认可。这股风潮很快就传遍了欧洲，而在画家们的巧手之下，裸体的表现也变得多种多样。"

The church did not approve nakedness nor non-Christian gods/goddesses that Renaissance artists brought back from Ancient Greece or Roman eras.

After the Medici family lost influence and got expelled from Florence, Botticelli got no more works, and eventually lived and died in loneliness and poverty.