Shop art print and framed art The birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli

The Birth of Venus is a major work by Sandro Botticelli, painted around 1484-1485 and housed in the Uffizi Gallery. It was painted using the tempera technique. The scene, taken from Greco-Roman mythology, is now known as the Birth of Venus. The goddess's pose is not exactly that of the ancient Venus Anadyomene, rising from the water and wringing out her wet hair. Rather, the pose of the arms recalls another ancient model, that of the prudish Venus, of which we have examples such as the Capitoline Venus in the Capitoline Museums in Rome (discovered in 1670-1676) and the Medici Venus in the Uffizi in Florence. This type of model was known long before in Florence and Tuscany, as evidenced by quotations, collected descriptions and the works of Giovanni Pisano and Masaccio, which were inspired by it. The model for the Venus, Simonetta Vespucci, was the wife of Marco Vespucci and the mistress of Giuliano de' Medici, and was considered the most beautiful woman of her time. As she died of pneumonia at the age of 23 in 1476, all Botticelli's famous portraits of her are posthumous: Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci (1476-1480), Venus and Mars (1480), The Birth of Venus (1485) and Madonna della melagrana (1487). The same is true of the paintings by Piero di Cosimo in which Simonetta Vespucci is recognised: Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci (1480), The Death of Procris (1486-1510). On the left is Zephyr, the gentle spring wind. He is shown wearing a pale blue cloak fastened with a bow and [...]

 

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

 

« The birth of Venus » is kept at Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Tuscany, Italy.

 

Find the full description of The birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli on Wikipedia.