Botticelli's Birth of Venus: Analysis and Meaning

The Birth of Venus (c. 1482) by Sandro Botticelli

Painting Details

• Artist: Sandro Botticelli
• Year: c. 1482
• Dimensions: 172.5 x 278.5 cm
• Medium: Tempera on canvas
• Location: Uffizi Gallery, Florence
• Period: Quattrocento
• Genre: Mythological

Introduction

The Birth of Venus was commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici to decorate his Villa di Castello, a place for recreation. It was part of a series that also included Primavera and Pallas and the Centaur. The painting is rich in symbolism inspired by the Neoplatonism of Marsilio Ficino. It was painted before the religious crisis, in a time of very naturalistic and traditional poetry.

Analysis and Features

Painted after Primavera, The Birth of Venus presents a simpler iconography. Venus is at the center of the composition, emerging from a giant scallop shell. She is being carried by the waves to the shore and is captured at the moment of her birth. This is Venus Urania, daughter of Uranus. Zephyr, the west wind, causes the wind to move and prevents the Hora of Spring, the young goddess of vegetation and nature, from covering Venus with a mantle as she reaches the coast of Cyprus. Venus's hair floats in the wind, and she modestly covers herself with her hand. The scene is set in a simple landscape, with a brightness and peace that is very poetic, as seen in the treatment of pastels and soft colors. The naked goddess's skin is balanced by a subtle chiaroscuro, with beautiful pearly tones. The sinuous line marks the rhythm of the composition and dispenses with perspective. The composition is elementary and symmetrical, with a triangle formed by the three figures. The focal point is not located in the center of the canvas, yet all the attention is drawn there. The overhead light enhances the impression of immateriality and highlights the contrasts. The lines and rhythms of the drawing are predominant. We can see a very long neck and a disarticulated shoulder. The left arm is blurred. The straight line becomes successful, resulting in a feeling of softness and calm.

Conclusion

This is a work of Botticelli's maturity. It is characterized by linearity and a lack of perspective. The subject is developed in an enclosed space, and the anatomy is still not fully developed. It represents Neoplatonic beauty, the spiritual world of ideas. It leads us to a contemplative and bucolic mythological painting. The subject has a second, religious reading because Christians are accepted into the religion through baptism, similar to Venus's birth from the sea.