Lecture 17: Sandro Botticelli
Two of Botticelli’s most famous paintings were commissioned by the same
secondary branch of the Medici family for a villa near Florence. The ¿ rst
of these is the Primavera (“Spring”) (c. 1477–1478). This 10-foot-wide
painting is symmetrical but with a suggestion of movement from the right
toward the left. The ¿ gures are in an orange grove with a carpet of À owers.
The central ¿ gure looking at us is not Spring but Venus, a Madonna-like
¿ gure who presides over the gathering in this grove dedicated to Love. Cupid
is pictured above her. To the left of Venus are the Three Graces, thought to be
her daughters and representing culture in Renaissance thought. At the far left
is the god Mercury, the symbol of reason, who seems to be brushing away
tiny clouds with his wand, in this sense, unclouding the mind.The beautiful and tantalizing ¿ gures at the right are the North Wind Zephyr
blowing in and seizing the nymph Chloris. She is saved from his attack
by the Classical trick described in Ovid’s Metamorphoses—changing her
nature. Chloris metamorphoses into Flora, goddess of Spring. The À owers on
Flora’s gown are actually on top of one of Chloris’s right-hand ¿ ngers. The
Humanist scholars in the Medici circle could have found multiple meanings
in this scene to stimulate their conversation and thinking. One reason for
the commission and invention of this painting may have been a wedding,
like the one that probably inspired Mars and Venus. In 1481–1482, Botticelli
worked in Rome on the Sistine Chapel fresco decorations, but otherwise, he
remained in Florence, where he had a large workshop.Our next image shows the second painting commissioned for the Medici
villa in Florence, The Birth of Venus (c. 1482). This is a Classical image
of the birth of Venus, who was born from the sea and carried on a shell, by
the wind, to shore. Venus, accompanied by rose petals, is moved toward the
shore by the wind and water. She is taken in by the allegorical ¿ gure of Land,
who clothes her. Botticelli had to visualize and invent this depiction because
this subject had never before been painted. He looked to other subjects for
his compositional model, a Baptism of Christ like one by Giotto.The Adoration of the Magi (c. 1478/1482) is our next image. The nativity
architecture is a stable with a wooden roof in a Classical architectural ruin.
There are triangles in the roof, representing the Trinity, and crosses can be
seen inside the triangles. The new order of Christianity is symbolized by