Shop art print and framed art Primavera by Sandro Botticelli

Primavera is one of the most celebrated of all Renaissance paintings. Botticelli was the first artist since antiquity to paint mythological subjects such as this on a large scale, and to treat them with a seriousness previously reserved for religious subjects. This new type of painting was highly valued in cluture Renaissance circles : like a painted allegorical poem, it uses complex symbolism to bring together classical and Renaissance ideas about love, beauty and nature. Vasari described Primavera as "Venus as a symbol of spring (Primavera is italian for spring) being adorned with flowers by the Graces". Scholars continue to debate the precise meaning of the painting Primavera, but it draws on various Greek and Roman myths, and seems to be linked to the Medici festivals for which Botticelli painted fabrics and banners.

Painted in tempera on a wooden panel, the artwork Primavera was commissioned for one of the Medici residences in Florence, by or for Lorenzo the Magnificent's young cousin, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici. At the center of the composition stands the life-style figure of Venus, attended by Cupid; to her left, the three Graces (goddesses of charm, grace, and beauty) dance, while Mercury stirs the clouds with his wand. To Venus's right, the Greek nymph Chloris is accosted by Zephyr. She transforms into Flora, the goddess of flowers, who wears an exquisite gown matching the description of one worn at a Medici tournament of 1475, which was painted with roses and flowers and greenery.

This artwork is a painting from the renaissance period. It belongs to the italian renaissance style.

« Primavera » is kept at Galerie des Offices, Florence, Italy.