The Birth of Venus is a tempura on canvas painted by Sandro Botticelli. Botticelli (1444-1510) was a master of Renaissance Art. The Birth of Venus was one of Botticelli’s most famous works. It now hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The painting shows Venus, the goddess of love, emerging from the sea on a seashell and being blown ashore a fully grown woman. Botticelli painted this pagan theme at a time when most paintings depicted Christian ideals. At the time, the vast majority of women in paintings were depicted as a chaste Virgin Mary, so it is surprising that he chose to paint Venus as a nude. The Birth of Venus does not follow the classical realism of Raphael or da Vinci. Venus’s shoulder slopes at an unlikely angle and her neck is impossibly long. Roses shower upon Venus as she emerges from the sea. (Art History Guide) One of the goddesses is trying to hand her a cloak as she steps ashore. Is this to welcome her and help her dry off or is this the attempt of the goddess to conceal Venus’ naked body. Many aspects of the painting appear to be in motion. Her long, flowing, red hair appears to be loosely tied back and strands of ringlets are blowing in the breeze. The gown also appears to be blowing in the wind as the goddess attempts to drape it around Venus’ snowy white body. Venus does not appear to be wet even though she is emerging from the water, which reinforces her goddess-like aura. The presence of nature is strong in the painting. There are falling flowers in the background, flowers on the clothing of the female figure on the right and flowers on the gown she is draping onto Venus. The ocean is a very prominent part of the painting. It possesses faint, curving lines that portray movement of the water. There is also a piece of land on the right side in the background that contains trees and foliage. There is a faint, yet very obvious horizon line that appears to be far in the distance. The horizontal line cuts through the mid-drifts of all four figures, offering a sense of balance to the painting even though the four figures are at different locations in the painting. Two figures, a male and female, are flying while Venus is center stage and the main focal point of the image. The fourth figure, a female, appears to be a little further in the distance than that of the “front and center” Venus. The two flying figures possess wings and appear to be closer to the viewer and elevated above the horizon in the foreground. The two flying figures and Venus are nude while the fourth figure is covered in heavy clothing concealing all of her body except for her face, hands and bare feet. The angels with wings are loosely draped with cloth only covering reproductive organs. The female angel’s breast is exposed. Her body is twisted in an unrealistic manner and she holds onto the male as if he is carrying her. He is clearly in control of her actions. They swoop in from the sky as if to save Venus from the goddess that is trying to cover her up. They appear to be promoting the nude goddess’ freedom of displaying her exterior beauty. The seashell that Venus stands atop contains lines that show the curvature of the entity. The direction of the lines in the flowing objects of cloth show that the angels are flying in from the left and the cloth follows behind them in their movements. The faint white lines drawn from the mouth of the male figure shows that he is blowing. This appears to be causing the movement of Venus’ hair and the fourth figure’s cloth in the opposite direction. Venus uses the ends of her extremely long hair to cover herself in the way the biblical figures of Adam and Eve use fig leaves to cover themselves. She places her other hand delicately over her breasts covering only one of them and allowing the other to be exposed. She appears to be expressing her purity by showing her exterior beauty while remaining modest in what she allows the viewer to see.
Source: http://www.arthistoryguide.com/The_Birth_of_Venus.aspx
