Summary: Painting by Sandro Botticelli "The Birth of Venus". Description of the painting "The Birth of Venus The Birth of Venus myth briefly

SANDRO BOTTICELLI
Sandro botticelli

Great Italian painter of the Renaissance, representative of the Florentine school of painting.

Botticelli was born in the family of the tanner Mariano di Giovanni Filipepi and his wife Smeralda in the Santa Maria Novella quarter of Florence. The nickname "Botticelli" (keg) passed to him from his older brother Giovanni, who was a fat man.

From 1470 he had his own workshop near the Church of All Saints. The painting "Allegory of Power" (Fortitude), painted in 1470, marks the acquisition of Botticelli's own style. In 1470-1472 he wrote a diptych about the history of Judith: "The Return of Judith" and "Finding the Body of Holofernes."

THE BIRTH OF VENUS

The Birth of Venus (Italian: Nascita di Venere) is a painting by the Italian artist of the Tuscan school Sandro Botticelli. The picture is a painting with tempera on canvas with a size of 172.5? 278.5 cm. Currently in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

History of the painting

Source -1, Wikipedia

Biographer Giorgio Vasari, in his Biographies (1550), mentions that The Birth of Venus and Spring were kept in the Villa Castello near Florence, which belonged to Cosimo Medici. Most art historians agree that the painting was painted for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco Medici, who owned the Villa Castello in 1486. Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco Medici is a cousin of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Duke of Florence. Later finds of the inventory records of the Medici house confirm that Lorenzo owned the "Spring", and there is no unequivocal proof that it was he who ordered the "Birth of Venus".

It is believed that the model for Venus was Simonetta Vespucci, who was born in Portovenere on the Ligurian coast. Perhaps a hint of this is contained in the plot of the picture. There is also a version that Botticelli wrote "The Birth of Venus" not for Lorenzo Medici, but for one of his noble contemporaries, and it fell into the property of the Medici later.

The description of the god of the west wind Zephyr, whose breath brings spring, is found in Homer. Ovid reports about his wife Chlorida hugging Zephyr with her arms and legs. It seems unlikely that Botticelli was an expert on the original Greek and Roman texts. So the library of contemporaries of the Mayano brothers artist (Italian Benedetto e Giuliano da Maiano) of similar social origin consisted of only 29 books, half of which were on religious topics, and of the classical texts, only the biography of Alexander the Great and the work of Livy were present.

Most likely, Botticelli's library was of a similar nature. However, through his neighbor Giorgio Antonio Vespucci, Botticelli entered the circle of the intellectual elite of Florence. Perhaps he was familiar with the poet Angelo Poliziano (1454-1494), who described the birth of Venus in one of his poems. Also, the artist's advisor could be the philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), who tried to combine classical philosophy with Christianity. In his philosophical doctrine, an important figure was the Celestial Venus, symbolizing humanism, mercy and love, and whose beauty led mortals to heaven.

Even if Poliziano or Ficino were not direct advisers to Botticelli, their works prepared public opinion for the perception of the image of a naked ancient goddess, and the artist could work on his work without fear of condemnation or misunderstanding from fellow citizens.

In 1987, the restoration of the painting was completed. A layer of varnish was removed from it, applied some time after Botticelli finished work on it, and turned into a yellow-brown plaque over the course of several centuries.

The picture illustrates the myth of the birth of Venus (Greek Aphrodite).

A naked goddess floats to the shore in the shell of a ribbed heart-shaped shell, driven by the wind. On the left side of the picture, Zephyr (west wind), in the arms of his wife Chlorida (Roman Flora), blows on the shell, creating a wind filled with flowers. On the shore, the goddess is met by one of the graces.

Source-2, arts-dnevnik.ru

Botticelli and Medici

The painting was created for one of the representatives of the Medici dynasty. A few words should be said about them. Because without them this masterpiece would not exist.

The Medici were bankers and deftly ruled the city-state of Florence. But these people have found the most noble use of their wealth. They spent it on art. Because they understood that this is how they buy their immortality.

The most brilliant philosophers, artists and poets were approached to the court. They all ate from the Medici trough. Receiving generous rewards for their creativity.

Among them was Botticelli (1445-1510). He was sincerely delighted with his customers. Their wisdom and generosity. And he willingly created pictures for them. Including "Venus". Botticelli is an unsurpassed esthete. His paintings are not just eye-pleasing canvases. This is a hymn to beauty.

The traits of his characters are very pretty. Moreover, they are beautiful regardless of the era. Too meek Madonnas Raphael now would hardly adorn the covers of fashion magazines. And the puffy beauties of Rubens even more so. We would say that a different beauty is now appreciated.

But Botticelli managed to write timeless beauty. It does not seem outdated to us at all. Look at his angels and nymphs. Venus Botticelli combines the outer beauty of the goddess and the inner beauty of the Madonna.

We see the gaze of a chaste, meek and gentle woman. A Greek goddess could not have had such a look. After all, the pagan gods did not know compassion. It only came with Christianity. It is not surprising that Botticelli endowed almost all of his Madonnas with this same beautiful face.

"The Birth of Venus" has not always been recognized as a masterpiece. Until the middle of the 19th century, Botticelli was considered a minor master. No one crowded at the feet of the beautiful blonde goddess.

Then all the artists suffered from Raphaelania. Botticelli had a younger contemporary, Raphael. Who created no less beautiful Madonnas. And he had two big advantages over Botticelli. Raphael created his masterpieces with oil paints. Following Leonardo da Vinci. The finest glaze (translucent layers of paint) made his heroines more alive.

While Botticelli was still working on the old technology, with tempera paints. They dried quickly, so they were applied in one layer. As a result, the images were dry, lifeless. Botticelli was able to revive his "Venus" only slightly due to the blush and developing hair.

Source - 3.smallbay.ru

15th century Italian art. Renaissance

The famous painting by the artist Sandro Botticelli "The Birth of Venus". The size of the work is 172.5 x 278.5 cm, canvas, tempera. The painting was commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco Medici, for whom Spring was also performed. The painting was intended to decorate the same Villa Castello. Apparently, they were thought of as paired compositions, and there was a certain connection between them.

The painting depicts the birth of the celestial Venus from the foam of the sea, or the mystery of the appearance in the world of Beauty. Under the breath of Zephyr sweeping over the sea space in the arms of her beloved Aura, the goddess floats on a shell to the shore. She is met by Ora, ready to throw a cloak embroidered with flowers over the naked body of Venus. If "Spring" is associated with a holiday in the kingdom of the goddess of love, then this composition represents theophany, or epiphany. This is how the Neoplatonists thought of the mysterious emergence of Beauty. According to Herbert Horn, researcher of the works of Sandro Botticelli, the spiritualized structure of feelings permeates the picture, Venus "appears in the light of inexpressible bliss, from which it blows more like the circles of Paradise than the heights of Olympus."

And it is no coincidence that, interpreting the scene, Botticelli again turned to religious iconography: the symmetrical arrangement of the figures in front of the central one resembles the compositional principle of the "Baptism of Christ", where the Holy Spirit appears in the sky. As usual in Botticelli's painting, the uplifting of feelings here borders on melancholic pensiveness, giving rise to an emotional atmosphere permeated with light. Everything in the composition bears the imprint of the artist's subjective world. He gave a sharply personal interpretation of the lines of the ancient Greek poets and Poliziano, which formed the basis of the painting program. For example, the text from “Stanzas for the Tournament” by Poliziano: “On the sink, frisky Zephyrs Have driven an unearthly maiden to the shore: She circles, and the sky rejoices, - is transformed into an image of the early morning hour with faded colors of the sky and the sea; under the rain of roses, a fragile goddess enters this desert and beautiful world.

Botticelli expressively conveyed the element of the winds blowing over the waters. The swirling robes, the lines with which the hair and wings are written - all of this is filled with a dynamic impulse that personifies one of the basic elements of the universe. Winds - Zephyr and Aura - visibly sway the expanse of water. Unlike the winds, whose element is air, Ora's space is earth. In a white dress embroidered with cornflowers, decorated with garlands of myrtles and roses, she, standing on the shore, is ready to wrap Venus in a cloak, the red color of which symbolizes love. The two side wings of the composition - the passing winds and Ora, whose volume is visibly increased by a dress swayed by the wind, a tree and a cloak of Venus - this is something like a curtain, which, opening wide, presented the world with the mystery of the manifestation of Beauty. In the painting "The Birth of Venus" every detail is surprisingly accurately found, and the composition as a whole leaves an impression of perfect harmony.

The artist outlines the figures with taut, impetuous and melodic lines, drawing out a complex arabesque, and denotes the environment in more generalized contours. Only a narrow strip of the coast is visible, and the rest of the place is occupied by the bright sky and sea shining from within. Venus is hardly the most captivating image of Botticelli. The artist gives his own interpretation of the classical ideal of beauty, introducing the features of spiritualization into the sensual image.

Botticelli depicts a figure with gracefully sloping shoulders, a small head on a magnificent long neck and elongated body proportions and melodious, flowing outlines of forms. Wrongs in the transfer of the structure of the figure, in the fixation of its contours, only enhance the remarkable expression of the image. Deviations from classical correctness are also noticeable in the face of the goddess, but it is beautiful and attractive in its touchingness. There is no certainty in its expression, just as the posture of the goddess who has just come into the world is deprived of stability. The eyes of Venus look slightly surprised, not stopping at anything. The head is crowned with a luxurious cascade of golden hair.

Following the ancient Roman poets, Botticelli depicts hair, divided into strands and swayed by the sea breeze. This sight is fascinating. Venus covers her body with a bashful gesture, this iconography comes from the antique type Venera pudica ("bashful"). The artist endowed the sensual appearance of the beautiful goddess of love and beauty with purity and almost sacred sublimity. A rain of roses flowing regularly into the sea is conveyed in a clear language of lines and color. Botticelli is not looking for scientifically verified accuracy of their outlines and forms. Admiration for the beauty of a flower dictates to it the simple and graceful contours of buds and open roses, turned from different angles. Their delicate color, fragility of structure and the rhythm of this quiet rain of flowers emphasize the emotional tonality of the composition.

Oh, how beautiful youth is
But instant! Sing it! Laugh!
Be happy who wants happiness!

Lorenzo de 'Medici

Among the beautiful rooms of the Florentine Uffizi gallery that store outstanding masterpieces of Western European art, there is one very special one. Botticelli Hall. From early morning until closing time, there are crowds of people fascinated and intoxicated by beauty. A beauty over which time has no power. Beauty, at one glance at which the heart is filled to the brim with joy and inspiration.

"Spring" and "The Birth of Venus", created by Sandro Botticelli, take us to the most beautiful time and place in the history of all fine arts: to Florence in the eighties of the 15th century.

Florence is the heart of the Renaissance, the center of the arts, the pearl of Europe, the city flourishing under the rule of the Medici dynasty. The most brilliant member of the family, young Lorenzo, was barely 20 years old when he became the heir to his father and grandfather. His legacy was not only myriad wealth and the largest banking network in Europe. He got all of Florence.

Over the next 20 years, he will bring himself and his city extraordinary fame. He will be called Lorenzo the Magnificent, he will become the patron of the arts and the creator of the myth about himself, his family and the outstanding Florentines who surrounded him.

The Medici, being bankers and merchants, could not boast of the aristocratic background so necessary for exaltation. Realizing perfectly the state of affairs, the Medici chose an unusual strategy: they invested huge amounts of money in works of art and patronized the most talented artists, sculptors and architects of their time. Donatello, Brunelleschi, Leonardo and Michelangelo created masterpieces, glorifying and elevating their patrons.

The Medici brothers, Lorenzo and Giuliano, were raised as princes. The wife of the young Lorenzo was the Roman aristocrat Clarice Orsini. Each year the power and prestige of the family grew steadily.

Lorenzo very quickly becomes the soul of the city and a trendsetter. There was no person in the city who did not want to be like him, make friends with him and enjoy his patronage. Entering the circle of Lorenzo de 'Medici was the highest happiness for artists, poets and philosophers.

Surprisingly, both "Spring" and "The Birth of Venus" are considered to have been created not for Lorenzo the Magnificent, but for his cousin, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de 'Medici and his villa in Castello, a suburb of Florence. According to one version, "The Birth of Venus" could be part of an allegorical triptych, together with "Spring" and "Pallas and the Centaur."

The painting illustrates the ancient myth of the birth of the goddess of love and beauty from sea foam. Naked and beautiful Venus floats, urged on by Zephyr, who is hugged by his wife Chlorida, to the shores of Cyprus. The breath of Zephyr, the god of the west wind that brings spring, fills the space with wondrous flowers. And on the shore, the naked goddess is already met by one of the Graces, holding out a beautiful veil to her.

Botticelli's painting not only revives, but also fills pagan mythology with new meaning. Just take a look at this scene!

Smooth lines give rise to extraordinary harmony, and the composition, built around Venus, gives it sacredness. The characters refer to the idea of ​​worship, and the beautiful and slightly sad goddess resembles the face of the Madonna.

In an extraordinary way, Botticelli combines the beauty of antiquity (the sculpture of Venus from the Medici collection became the model for the body of Venus, as if carved out of marble), and the ideas of Christianity. Venus is naked but out of reach. Her body has nothing to do with carnal love. She is love itself, mercy and the path to salvation.

In addition, Botticelli glorifies not only the ancient goddess and the ideas of the new world, but also his Simonetta Vespucci. The young beauty who revived the Venus of Florence came from Liguria, and her birthplace may have been the town of Porto Venere.

How much love Sandro Botticelli put into his creation! With what attention he adorned his masterpiece with countless colors! They said about him: "He writes not with the colors of a palette, but with the colors of his soul."

Other details are also noteworthy: the flowering orange tree on the shore is a symbol of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and the laurel wreath on the breast of Grazia is a direct reference to Laurentia, which also indicates the glorification of the name of the outstanding Florentine.

Sandro's love for his patron was boundless. The death of Lorenzo the Magnificent was a terrible blow to the artist. He enters a phase of crisis, from which he will not emerge until the end of his days, is imbued with the ideas of the monk Savonarola, calling for the overthrow of the Medici and the rejection of sinful art. In the city that expelled the Medici, the "bonfires of Vanity" will burn, into which the desperate artist will throw his masterpieces.

During this period, Botticelli will completely change his style, return to religious images filled with bitterness and tragedy. But even in the late Lamentation of Christ in the person of Mary Magdalene you will find the features of his muse.

The artist never got married and, according to the testimony of his contemporaries, he hardly loved anyone. Sandro Botticelli will die in poverty and loneliness in 1510 and will be buried in the Church of All Saints, in the same place as Simonetta Vespucci.

P.S. A little more than 20 years have passed since the creation of The Birth of Venus, and young Michelangelo will present his David to the world.

And, you must admit, as long as the world stands, these images will be eternally beautiful, singing the beauty of masculinity and the charm of femininity ...

Sandro Botticelli. Birth of Venus

Around 1484 Oil on canvas. 172.5 x 278.5 cm.

Uffizi Gallery, Florence

She hasn't been born yet

She is both music and word,

And therefore all living things

An unbreakable bond.

Osip Mandelstam. " Silentium ".

“It’s strange to think that fifty years ago, Botticelli was considered one of the dark artists of the transition period, who passed in the world only to prepare the way for Raphael,” the remarkable art historian Pavel Muratov wrote in his Images of Italy. What seemed strange to Muratov at the beginning of the 20th century is even less clear to us at the beginning of the 21st century: Botticelli's genius seems obvious to us, and it is hard to imagine that a hundred years, from about the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 19th centuries, the world was indifferent to "The Birth of Venus", to "Spring", to Botticellian Madonnas. And yet it is so. Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) lived at the same time as Leonardo da Vinci, he saw how the statue of David created by the young Michelangelo was installed in Florence, he died only 10 years earlier than Raphael, but a whole era separated him from these masters.

Botticellip belonged to the early Renaissance, Quattrocento, his younger contemporaries - the High Renaissance, which determined the development of European art for at least three centuries. Raphael was recognized as a model for artists with his infallible loyalty to nature. The degree to which this ideal was approached became the measure of perfection, so the works of art of the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance often did not meet the tastes of subsequent generations. They saw in them not a different, in their own way perfect, aesthetics, but only ineptitude and primitivism, their pictorial language seemed coarse and indistinct. Only when European painters learned to convey with absolute certainty on canvas all the diversity of the surrounding world and there was nowhere to move in this direction, only when boring academician epigones repeated every figure, every gesture from Raphael's paintings and frescoes countless times, an urgent need for new artistic guidelines arose. And Botticelli, along with many other unjustly forgotten masters, returned to us.

Self-portrait by Sandro Botticelli.
Fragment of the fresco "Adoration of the Magi" 1475

We owe the return of Botticelli to the English artists of the mid-19th century, who called themselves the Pre-Raphaelites. In full accordance with the name, they turned to the art of the pre-Raphaelian time - medieval and early Renaissance. In it they saw an unusual spiritualized beauty, sincerity and deep religiosity, in it they rediscovered long-forgotten images and motives. Botticelli became one of the idols of the Pre-Raphaelites, but the admiration of the English painters gave only the first impetus to the ever-increasing fame of this master. European culture has found and continues to find in its heritage something vital for itself. What? Perhaps acquaintance with "The Birth of Venus" - the most beautiful among the paintings of Botticelli, will help us understand this.

Botticelli created this painting around 1484, already a mature recognized master. He recently returned to his native Florence from Rome, where he carried out an honorary order of Pope Sixtus IV : together with other major artists painted the walls of the Sistine Chapel with frescoes. In Florence, the brilliant Medici era was drawing to a close. The most prominent representative of this banking dynasty, Lorenzo the Magnificent, continued the traditions of his grandfather Cosimo and father Piero, enlightened tyrants and generous patrons of art, philosophy, poetry. Feasts, carnivals, tournaments, unprecedentedly magnificent city festivities followed each other. But the memory of the recent tragedy was still alive: in 1478, conspirators from the Pazzi family killed the favorite of the whole city, the younger brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent Giuliano, and the tyrant himself only accidentally escaped death and cruelly dealt with the conspirators. The power of the Medici again seemed boundless, and among those who were noted and treated kindly by her - the painter Sandro Botticelli.

Sandro Botticelli. Portrait of Giuliano Medici. 1478 g.

The first half of the 1480s can be called the antique period in the work of Botticelli. Leaving for a while his favorite gospel stories "Madonna and Child" and "Adoration of the Magi", he created four commissioned works on the themes of ancient myths: "Pallas and the Centaur", "Venus and Mars", "Spring", "The Birth of Venus". The painting "The Birth of Venus", as well as the "Spring" that appeared several years earlier, was most likely written for the cousin and namesake of Lorenzo the Magnificent - Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco. She has decorated his Villa Castello for many years. Such monumental canvases (recall, the size of the picture is 172 x 278 cm) replaced tapestries and frescoes in the country houses of the Florentine nobility.

To understand the idea of ​​the picture, we will have to not only revive the ancient myth in our memory, but also get acquainted with the spiritual quests of the Florentine humanists of the Medici era. Their idol was the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. The circle of his admirers, which included thinkers, poets, artists and Lorenzo the Magnificent himself, was called the Platonic Academy. The soul of the circle was the philosopher Marsilio Ficino, who, with the help of complex philosophical constructions, proved that Plato's ideas anticipated Christianity. The urgent task of the Neoplatonists was to reconcile ancient and Christian beliefs. So, in Venus, they saw the prototype of the Madonna, the myth of the birth of the goddess of love and beauty from sea foam was interpreted as the aspiration of the soul to God, for, according to Ficino's teachings, “beauty is the divine light that permeates all that exists, and love is the binding force that moves the world to God. " Reverence, prayerful delight before the appearance of a deity (it does not matter - pagan or Christian), bringing love and beauty to the world, Botticelli was called upon to embody in his creation.

Perhaps the painting reflected the artist's impressions of the poetry of the philosopher and poet Angelo Poliziano, who was also among the Neoplatonists. In the poem of 1475 "Stanzas for the Tournament", Poliziano described exactly the scene that Botticelli depicted on his canvas: "A girl of divine beauty / Swaying, standing on a shell, / Voluptuous Zephyrs drawn to the shore, / And Heaven admires this spectacle." But Botticelli did not illustrate the poem, but thought in unison with its author, trying to convey the antique plot as convincingly as possible on canvas. The artist did not depict the very birth of the goddess from sea foam, but her arrival on the island (according to some legends it was Cyprus, according to others - Kiefer). The shell carrying the goddess is about to touch the ground, it is driven to the shore by the blow of the west wind, Zephyr and his friend Aura. On the shore, holding at the ready a veil woven with flowers, Venus awaits an ora - one of the four goddesses of the seasons, Spring. A garland of evergreen myrtle is wrapped around its neck - a symbol of eternal love, an anemone blooms at its feet - the first spring flower, also one of the symbols of Venus. Roses are falling from the sky, which, according to ancient legend, were born together with Venus, for a rose is as beautiful as love itself, and its thorns remind of love agony.

Zephyr and Aura

The surface of the sea, the heavenly expanse, the virgin-deserted coast, a huge shell, on the edge of which stands a young woman of incomparable charm, fluttering hair, flying precious fabrics, trees, herbs and flowers ... the whole picture is woven from exquisitely beautiful motives. But this is not what makes her a masterpiece, but the infallible perfection of the whole and every detail. In The Birth of Venus, the strengths of Botticelli's talent were happily manifested and, as it were, his weaknesses were neutralized (if at all we can talk about weaknesses in relation to such a rare talent). The artist did not always succeed in complex multi-figured compositions, therefore, in some of his works, fragments are more impressive than the whole picture (for example, it breaks up into separate amazing groups "Spring").

The composition "The Birth of Venus" is simple and traditional. We see her in countless Madonnas, in works on the Baptism of Christ and The Coronation of Mary. The main figure in such works is placed in the center, and on both sides there are minor characters: angels, saints, donors (customers of the work). Such a composition, in accordance with the already familiar ideas of the neo-Platonists about the continuity of antiquity and Christianity, brought the picture closer to the usual prayer images. In addition, this clear scheme - three compositional nodes clearly marked on a neutral light background - allowed Botticelli to fully concentrate on the main thing: the most complex roll call of rhythms. Light, desaturated, slightly faded colors of the picture, like delicate tints of mother-of-pearl, also do not distract the viewer from whimsical winding lines, weightless silhouettes, graceful gestures. "The greatest line artist of all that ever existed in Europe", called Botticelli at the beginning of the 20th century, the largest researcher of Italian Renaissance painting, the English art critic. Berenson, and this judgment remains valid to this day.

"The Birth of Venus" is one of those meditative paintings in which one can immerse himself, it seems, endlessly, finding new correspondences between the contours of flexible figures, streams of flowing hair, swirls of fabrics, bends of the banks. Calling works of painting musical or poetic, we often only use beautiful words. But the most complex rhythmic structure of Botticelli's painting is really worthy of comparing his painting with a poem in which a variety of consonances are combined by rhyme and meter, or with a piece of music in which the melodic richness is subject to mathematically strict laws of harmony. Golden, like the hair of Venus, the stems of the reeds echo the curves of the goddess's body, the petals of the anemone are rounded like the toes of a hole, the ribbed shell opens like a rose flower. Golden strokes "rhyme" on the wings of the winds and on the leaves of orange trees; the wavy curls of the ora and marshmallow are like coastal waves. The picture gives a special charm that this large canvas was painted with the meticulous care of miniatures. The contours of the eyelids and eyebrows, the wings of the nose, fingers, nail holes, strands of hair, blades of grass, veins of leaves - the artist draws all this with the finest light lines, incomprehensibly without falling into fine detail.

The figures of the winds and holes located diagonally on both sides rush to Venus. Ora, hurrying to cover the nakedness of the goddess, personifies the romantic, chaste side of love, winds intertwining in an embrace - sensual. The winds and captured by the movement, they faithfully serve the goddess, but the energy of the winds, and the gust of the gust - all dissolves, is extinguished in absolute peace, enveloping Venus. A beautiful statue - these are the words that come to mind when looking at the immovable figure of the goddess, and which the artist deliberately addressed to his viewers. He was the first Renaissance master to capture a completely naked female body in all its sensual charm, and in every possible way emphasized the continuity of his Venus with antique sculpture. His contemporaries understood this idea more than we do: Botticelli's Venus exactly repeats the gesture of antique statues - the Medici Venus from the Florentine Medici collection and the Capitoline Venus, which the artist apparently saw during his stay in Rome. Such an image of the goddess of love, covering her chest and bosom with her hands, received the name "Chaste Venus" in the Renaissance era - " Venus pudica ". (It is interesting that this gesture in antiquity symbolized fertility and pleasure, and by no means chastity.) The flesh of Venus - pearly shimmering, seemingly solid - is like marble. But not only the antique statue is reminiscent of Venus on Botticelli's canvas. Elongated proportions and characteristic curvature of the body in the form of the Latin letter " S "Turn us to the art of Gothic.

Sandro Botticelli. Presumably a portrait
Simonetta Vespucci. After 1480

Botticelli easily departs from the classical canons and creates something more than impeccable beauty - a captivating, unsteady, agonizing charm that cannot be conveyed in words. And yet, since the Pre-Raphaelites returned the golden-haired goddess of love to the world, each new generation is trying to find the only the right words and unravel the mystery of her appeal. First of all, researchers and viewers are interested in the question: did the Botticellian Venus have a real prototype? Perhaps the artist immortalized the face of his beloved woman in his best creation? Alas, all that is known about Botticelli's private life is that he did not have a family, we do not know anything about his beloved. However, Botticelli witnessed the great love that all of Florence rejoiced, which the poets sang - the sublime love of Giuliano Medici and Simonetta Vespucci. This love ended tragically: young Simonetta died out from consumption, and two years later, as if on the day of her death, Giuliano was killed by the conspirators. At the time when Botticelli wrote "The Birth of Venus", the love of Giuliano and Simonetta, shrouded in a romantic halo, had already become an event of the century, a legend, and in Botticelli's Venus they often see a spiritual portrait of Simonetta, a beloved who was worshiped as a deity.

But even if we never know whose beautiful features Botticelli captured, one thing is certain: the face of Venus is the most soulful of all painted by the artist, the ideal embodiment of that special “Botticelli” type that is unmistakably recognizable in the master's works. These faces are similar not so much in features as in a special expression of sinless purity and serenity, a strange detachment and sadness. The heroes of Botticelli, immersed in their thoughts, seem vulnerable and defenseless. This is a dreamy, fragile, a little tired beauty.

Fragment of the painting "The Birth of Venus"

We catch Venus's meek, misty gaze, striving to comprehend her thoughts, to unravel her feelings, but it seems that on the cloudlessly clear face there is neither a shadow of feelings, nor a glimpse of thoughts. In that brief moment that the artist depicted on canvas, the goddess already exists, but has not yet come into this world, is still outside of earthly worries, passions, actions. Her face fascinates us with its perfect primordiality, but this is not emptiness, but the highest spiritual saturation, concealing in itself the fullness of future possibilities, the entire depth of future feelings. It is the whiteness of a blank sheet, which will soon be filled with words or notes, the purity of a canvas that a brush is about to touch. Another second - and the daughter of the sea will set foot on the ground, her naked body will be wrapped in a veil, clouds of sensation will run across her face, and the miracle of birth will end. The transition from birth to being is colored for Botticelli with the sadness of farewell. So, rejoicing in the coming day, we cannot but regret the extinct beauty of the dawn, so, growing up, we cannot but sigh about the past childhood.

Botticelli looked back with sadness at antiquity - the era of the great beginning of European culture, when unity was represented as the natural state of all things. Calling Botticelli "one of the first artists of the new human consciousness", Muratov wrote in 1910: "His restless soul has lost the simple harmony of the world just as we have lost it." Since then, the history of European culture has become almost a century longer, art has become even more fragmented and more sophisticated, and, peering into the face of Botticelli's Venus, we increasingly understand the artist's longing for an unattainable wholeness.

Date of creation: 1484-1486.
Type: canvas, tempera.
Location: Uffizi Gallery.

Analysis and interpretation of the birth of Venus

A unique canvas that combines religious motives and classical antiquity belongs to a series of mythological paintings by the famous Botticelli (1445-1510). After his arrival in Rome, three works were created for Pope Sixtus IV. Before the "birth of Venus", the master created "Pallada and the Centaur" (about 1482, Uffizi Gallery), "Venus and Mars" (1483, National Gallery of London) and "Spring" (1484-1486, Uffizi).

The work shows the nude figure of the goddess Venus, who arose from the sea, and was commissioned by Lorenzo the magnificent of the Medici family, who was especially interested in classical mythology and ancient legends in the context of the humanist art of the Renaissance.

Venus

Angelo Poliziano, the Florentine poet, humanist and scientist, in his epic poem "Stanze per la giostra" described the process of the appearance of Venus on the shore in a shell. It was this plot that inspired Botticelli to write. On the left, the main character is urged on by Zephyr, hugging his wife Chlorida. On the right, one of the haritas is ready to wrap the leg of Venus in a cloak decorated with flowers.

Despite the unusual proportions of the body (an elongated neck, an elongated left arm), Botticelli portrays Venus as an incredibly beautiful woman with smooth and delicate skin, golden curls. She appears in this world as the goddess of beauty, and the audience witnesses the act of creation. The wind whirls around the roses (according to the myth, when Venus was born, the rose bloomed for the first time).

Interpretations and interpretations

There are a number of interpretations of the work. The dreamy neoplatonic theory is quite popular. According to materials allegedly belonging to the philosopher Plato, Venus was the goddess of the earth, who inspired man to physical love and the heavenly goddess, who inspired spiritual love. Probably the 15th century viewers felt spiritual and divine love when looking at it.

Some art critics interpret the canvas as a flattering message for the powerful Lorenzo Medici. The image of Venus is supposedly borrowed from Simonetta Vespucci, Lorenzo's mistress and his older brother. Funny for this interpretation is the fact that Simonetta was born in the Italian city of Portovenere (from the English "Port of Venus").

Critics also suggest that nude Venus resembles Eve in the Garden of Eden. Accordingly, the goddess herself personifies the Christian church. This interpretation was also not without coincidences. "Stella Maris" (Starfish) among the Catholics personifies the Virgin Mary. Perhaps the sea gives birth to Venus, similar to Mary giving birth to Jesus.

Lamentation over the dead Christ

Gothic meets Renaissance

The best artist in Florence borrowed many ideas from Gothic art, which is confirmed by the general style, motives and lighting. Unlike his contemporaries, Botticelli was never an adherent of naturalism and realism. The figures on his cartons are not endowed with a specific mass and volume and are located in a narrow perspective. Realism is not for Botticelli, which is clear from the pose and figure of Venus, he prefers humanism and decorative aesthetics from Byzantine traditions. The combination of Gothic details and advanced humanism makes this painting one of the greatest works of the Italian Renaissance.

Painting "The Birth of Venus" updated: October 23, 2017 by the author: Gleb

Sandro Botticelli. Birth of Venus. 172.5 × 178.5 cm.1484 Uffizzi Gallery, Florence

Before us is the beautiful goddess Venus. The wind gods Zephyr and Aura drive the shell to the shore. Where the nymph of the seasons Ora awaits her to be covered with a floral veil.

Venus is incredibly beautiful. This is one of the most captivating images. If the goddess of love really existed, she would be just like that.

There is nowhere more beautiful. Unless Botticelli always depicts his feet in a peculiar way. And the rest - you can't take your eyes off.

How did he do it? Is it possible that this “Venus” is so famous only due to its external beauty? And why do we meet the same face in many of Botticelli's paintings?

Botticelli and Medici

The painting was created for one of the representatives of the Medici dynasty. A few words should be said about them. Because without them this masterpiece would not exist.

The Medici were bankers and deftly ruled the city-state of Florence. But these people have found the most noble use of their wealth.

They spent it on art. Because they understood that this is how they buy their immortality.

The most brilliant philosophers, artists and poets were approached to the court. They all ate from the Medici trough. Receiving generous rewards for their creativity.

Sandro Botticelli. Fragment of the painting "Adoration of the Magi" (self-portrait). 1475 Uffizzi Gallery, Florence

Among them was Botticelli (1445-1510). He was sincerely delighted with his customers. Their wisdom and generosity. And he willingly created pictures for them. Including "Venus".

Botticelli is an esthete with a capital letter

Botticelli is an unsurpassed esthete. His paintings are not just eye-pleasing canvases. This is a hymn to beauty.

The traits of his characters are very pretty. Moreover, they are beautiful regardless of the era.

Sandro Botticelli. Spring. 1482 Uffizzi Gallery, Florence

This is how the Pre-Raphaelite movement arose. That is, those who adopted the techniques of artists who worked before Raphael.

We see incredibly beautiful and sensual women with them. Just like Botticelli's, these were muses. For example, Rossetti portrayed Elizabeth Siddal all his life. And Waterhouse is Muriel Foster.

Left: Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Blessed Beatrice. 1864-1870 Tate Gallery, London. Right: John William Waterhouse. Boreas. 1903 Private collection

Collapsed world of Botticelli

For another reason, Botticelli's “Venus” was forgotten for a long time.

One day a charismatic fanatic, Savonarola, appeared in Florence. Who, with his sermons, began to denounce the reign of the Medici. And he urged to burn everything "vain", that is, luxury items.

The impressionable Botticelli succumbed to this influence. And he burned a lot of his paintings. Gradually, beauty disappeared from his works. And the feeling of loneliness and sadness, which were read even in “Venus”, only intensified. This is how his "Abandoned" appeared.

Sandro Botticelli. Abandoned. 1495 Private collection, Rome

This work creates an incredible contrast to “Venus”. Crumpled clothes like dropped wings. A blank wall with a piece of sky.

The clear and beautiful world has become inaccessible. There is no hope. Savonarola was burned. As is usually the case with revolutionaries, he died at the hands of his own followers. And the wonderful world at the Medici court cannot be returned.

They were expelled from the city in 1494, a year before The Abandoned was written. And return only in 1512. But Botticelli will no longer be alive.

Summarize

If you want to enjoy the beauty, you go to Botticelli.

"Venus" Botticelli - one of the most beautiful images ever created. On a par with Raphael.

The Pre-Raphaelites rediscovered Botticelli to the world. They continued his work, adding beauty in their works.

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