Botticelli’s Venus: A Symbol of Western European Contemporary Beauty
By: Alexandra Oduber
Tags: Botticelli, Primavera, Renaissance, Venus, Art

Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus (c.1484–86) is one of the most popular emblematic paintings of the Renaissance period. The Birth of Venus (c.1484–86) follows the long tradition of Velazquez, Rubens, Titian, and even Praxiteles of portraying the goddess Venus, also known as Aphrodite according to Greek mythology. This tempera on canvas painting was inspired by the poem Stanze per la Giostra del Magnifico Giuliano de’ Medici. This poem was written between 1475–1478 by the Florentine Renaissance poet, Angelo Poliziano, who was additionally known for being a good friend of Lorenzo di Medici. Several factors have contributed to the popularity of this painting transcending from the Renaissance until the contemporary era, especially the undeniable eroticism accompanying the goddess. This image of Venus has managed to become not only an icon of the Western Renaissance but also the inspiration for contemporary leaders of culture such as the designer Valentino in his creation of Valentino’s Haute Couture pre-fall 2015 collection as well as Lady Gaga when she wore Dolce & Gabbana’s 1993 Venus dress.

A side comparison of David LaChapelle, Rebirth of Venus, 2009 and Dolce & Gabbana’s 1993 Venus

dress.

Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy, c.1484–86.

Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus (c.1484–86) is estimated to have been made circa 1482 -1486. The slight uncertainty behind the years comes from some of the Medici’s records. Even though this artwork currently resides in the Uffizi Gallery, this painting has been known to have resided in the Cosimo I de’Medici’s residence in the countryside of Florence, Villa di Castello, where it seems to be missing in the Medici’s inventory of 1498, 1503, and 1516.[1] In fact, The Birth of Venus (c.1484–86) doesn’t appear in any of the Medici’s inventory until near the end of the sixteenth century. And before the sixteenth century, the only reputable record that places The Birth of Venus (c.1484–86) in Castello is Vasari’s first edition of Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects in 1550.[2] In this text, Vasari describes the painting as an image where Venus is born and is with the breezes and winds that carry her to land. Because of this text, some scholars believe that this painting’s first home actually was not even one belonging to the Medici family.

Despite the confusion regarding the painting’s date, for more than five hundred years Botticelli’s Venus has been an emblematic image of not only a cultural and artistic expression, but of beauty. Her pose, golden hair, rosy cheeks, and skin as white and soft-looking as marble are more symbolic of the Renaissance than Botticelli himself or any of his previous artworks. In fact, Paul Barolsky, a retired Commonwealth Professor in the McIntire Department of Art at the University of Virginia and author of several books on Renaissance art, refers to Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus (c.1484–86) as “an image so familiar to us that we overlook the fact that what the painter has pictured here, not an image for T-shirts or coffee mugs, is nothing less than the wondrous moment of the goddess’s theophany, the miraculous advent of her divinity in our world”.[3] In this painting, Botticelli “evokes her earthly, carnal existence” by depicting Venus’s voluptuous body completely nude as her long and light-colored hair helps her hand cover her pubic region.[4]

A closer look to Botticelli’s Venus and her Western European features.

Aside from the central figure, The Birth of Venus (c.1484–86) additionally depicts Zephyr, the god of the west wind in Greek mythology, carrying his lover and together representing the breath of passion from which the newly born goddess, Venus, is moved and inspired by. Zephyr, also referred to as Zephyrus, is depicted as a winged character who can be seen actively blowing as his cheeks puff slightly and faint lines of breath emit from his pursed lips.

On the opposing side, to Venus’s right, there is a female figure that meets the goddess at the shore and is depicted as holding a cloak and ready to cover Venus’s nudity. This figure, Primavera, is clothed in a flowered robe and adorned with blossoming wreaths at her waist and neck. Even though there are four seasons, Botticelli only depicted one, Primavera, which is an example of the Botticelli’s standard practice of reducing the number of seasons.[5] According to the Italian author, Guido Cornini, the depiction of Primavera connects The Birth of Venus to Botticelli’s Primavera (1482) by suggesting that Venus is born, blown to shore and clothed before the next moment where she makes her main entrance in Primavera (1482). This depiction of Venus, Marsilio Ficino’s Venus-Humanitas, was the inspiration for Botticelli’s Primavera (c.1482), The Birth of Venus (c.1484–86), and Venus and Mars (1485).[6] This not only relates these three Botticelli’s paintings of Venus to the popular Humanist movement of the but also helped established the renown “Venus of the Renaissance that inspired Cervantes to write La Galatea

and La Gitanilla”. [7]

A closer look to another image of Botticelli’s Venus.

Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy, c. 1482

The two images of Venus emerging naked as she is born from the water and Primavera attempting to cover her can be analyzed as a representation of the union of spirit and matter. [8] This example illustrates that The Birth of Venus (c.1484–86) not only reflects the pagan myth of Venus coming from seawater but also the notion of the birth of the soul from water, as seen in

the baptism; and the coexistence of the soul and the matter by showing something beautiful that is being covered by something else.[9]

Regarding the eroticism of The Birth of Venus (c.1484–86), Daniela Queiroz Campos and Maria Bernadete Ramos Flores, two Art History professors from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil, referred to this representation of Botticelli’s nude Venus as an “aphrodisiac image of powerful tactile and longing appeal”.[10] Through this hinted modesty, Botticelli is able “to suggest the delicate play between hair and flesh, to suggest the pressure of the fingers in her hair in such a way that the viewer’s own sense of touch is quickened”.[11] The Venus illustrates the way in which erotic desire existed during the Italian Renaissance of the Medici not only as a symbol of Western art but also of the most prominent intellectual movement of the time, Humanism. In his article, “Perception of Beauty in Renaissance Art”, author Neil Haughton explains how interwoven were the Medici with Renaissance art and its portrayal of Humanist beliefs by stating that:

“The philosophy of Humanism was based on the reinterpretation of pagan classical literature and philosophy to comply with contemporary Catholic beliefs, and the depiction of classical mythology provided a more ambitious vehicle for the artist than purely devotional subjects. Obviously, such an atmosphere of innovation and creation required money, and immensely rich banking families like the Medici were keen to ensure their influence and immortality by patronizing the greatest artists of the day”.[12]

The acclaimed French philosopher and art historian, Georges Didi-Hubermam, supports the connection to Humanism by stating that “the pictorial strip-tease of Botticelli — a term used by the author of Ouvrir Vénus — can be considered a figurative reference to a whole discursive series beginning with Greek and Latin texts, through humanist assimilation and reading”.[13] Additionally, Queiroz Campos and Ramos Flores back up the connection to Humanism and the renaissance by pointing out how “the obsession for the anatomical figure would be the dialectic of the whole Renaissance nudity: the modesty concealed the horror; the harmony and the beauty concealed the fracture and the cruelty”.[14]

Regarding the portrayal of the Venus in The Birth of Venus (c.1484–86), Queiroz Campos and Ramos Flores analyze the research done by other two art historians, Aby Warburg and Georges Didi-Huberman, in order to further expand the idea of Botticelli’s Venus embodying the Venus Celestialis and Venus Naturalis, which according to them, are the celestial and the vulgar representations of the Venus. They state that:

“By Sandro Botticelli’s hands, in the celebrated Renaissance, Venus would have lost great part of the power of its eroticism that Venus naturalis kept in the Antiquity. In this new life, traced and painted with tempera by the Renaissance artist, Venus appears in a beautiful, nude and impenetrable body. Her beauty is hard, cold, smooth and mineral. The nude is transcended, sublimed, perfect, ideal”.[15]

Without what Didi-Huberman referred to as the “impenetrable clothing” of other statues and paintings of Venus, Botticelli’s Venus exposes her nude body in a frontal position. Through this, she carries an aura of eroticism with her. An eroticism that could be described as unintentional due to the lack of “red color that characterizes the flesh and blood body”, but nonetheless, an undeniable level of eroticism.

In contemporary times, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus (c.1484–86) continues to increase in terms of popularity and usage in popular culture. This depiction of Venus with “the high forehead, the sharply defined chin, pale skin, strawberry blond hair, high delicate eyebrows, strong nose, narrow mouth, and full lips” that represented the idealized beauty held by Renaissance patrons has inspired creative minds like those of Miguel de Cervantes, Titian, and Peter Paul Rubens to the more contemporary ones like Valentino and Lady Gaga.[16]

Harmonia Rosales, The Birth of Oshun, Simard Bilodeau Contemporary, Los Angeles, United

States, 2017.

Xin Yin, Venus After Boticelli, 2008.

Other artists have been inspired by the iconic image of Venus by responding to it, instead of imitating it, with a standard of beauty that better represents the global and non-linear perspective of the twenty-

first century. Xin Yin’s Venus After Boticelli (2008), David LaChapelle’s Rebirth of Venus (2009), and Harmonia Rosales’s The Birth of Oshun (2017) are just a couple of the artworks that react to The Birth of Venus by attempting to decolonize this image and offer a version of Venus that better represents the iconic globalization of our times without being a direct response to Classical art and Humanism, Botticelli’s Venus is still celebrated not only as a beautiful painting but a beautiful woman as well.