Nicholas Lochoff (d.1948) after
 

Alessandro Botticelli (Florentine, 1444/5-1510)
THE BIRTH OF VENUS

Original (after 1482) in the Uffizi, Florence Tempera on canvas

The original of this work was probably painted for Lorenzo Pierfrancesco de' Medici's villa at Castello near Florence. The use of a canvas makes it stand out from the more common panel and fresco paintings of the time. Botticelli's Birth of Venus is among the first large-scale paintings of mythological subjects since Antiquity. It shows the myth of Venus' birth, as told by Hesiod and later by Poliziano. Venus, who sprang full-grown from the sea foam, was blown by the winds to land on Cythera (present day Cyprus). Here, a figure identified as Spring or Flora welcomes her on land. Venus generally represents earthly love, yet here identification with heavenly love is suggested by her modesty and by the roses around her, which were symbols of pure love and of the Virgin Mary.

Text by Robert Gerwing.
Copyright 2004.