Birth of Venus

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Venus in Art Oil Paintings

Venus (/ˈvi.nəs/, Classical Latin: /ˈwɛ.nʊs/) is the Roman goddess whose functions encompassed love, beauty, sex, fertility, prosperity and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the mother of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, who survived the fall of Troy and fled to Italy. Julius Caesar claimed her as his ancestor. Venus was central to many religious festivals, and was venerated in Roman religion under numerous cult titles.

The Romans adapted the myths and iconography of her Greek counterpart Aphrodite for Roman art and Latin literature. In the later classical tradition of the West, Birth of Venus becomes one of the most widely referenced deities of Greco-Roman mythology as the embodiment of love and sexuality.

Roman and Hellenistic art produced many variations on the goddess Venus Birth, often based on the Praxitlean type Aphrodite of Cnidus. Many female nudes from this period of sculpture whose subjects are unknown are in modern art history conventionally called 'Venus', even if they originally may have portrayed a mortal woman rather than operated as a cult statue of the goddess.

The Birth of Venus became a popular subject of oil painting and sculpture during the Renaissance period in Europe. As a "classical" figure for whom nudity was her natural state, it was socially acceptable to depict her unclothed. As the goddess of sexuality, a degree of erotic beauty in her presentation was justified, Venus painting appealed to many artists and their patrons. Over time, Birth of Venus came to refer to any artistic depiction in post-classical art of a nude woman, even when there was no indication that the subject was the goddess.

- wikiepedia

Birth of Venus Painting by Botticelli

-- Author: Lewis L., Toperfect Director.

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli
The Birth of Venus is a painting by Sandro Botticelli generally thought to have been made in the mid 1480s. It has long been suggested that Botticelli was commissioned to paint the work by the Medici family of Florence, Italy. It depicts the goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as a fully-grown woman, arriving at the shore (this theme is related to the Venus Anadyomene motif). The painting is in the collection of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

In the Birth of Venus, Venus' body is anatomically improbable, with elongated neck and torso. Her pose is impossible: although she stands in a classical contrapposto stance, her weight is shifted too far over the left leg for the pose to be held. Moreover, her positioning on the edge of the scallop shell, would certainly cause it to tip over. The bodies and poses of the winds to the left are even harder to figure out. The background is summary like landscape paintings, and the painting portraits cast no shadows. It is clear that this is a fantasy image.

Venus is a beautiful symbol and the embodiment of the source of all life in mythology. The plot and image-building in Sandro Botticelli Venus is based on a poem, the poem describes that Venus was borned in the Aegean Sea, Aeolus blow her to the quiet shore, and spring breeze greet her by woven brocade with the stars clothes on the shore, vast blue sky behind them. Venus stand on the shell that is melancholy symbol of her birth, fragile and weak, no passion to the world and the goddess of the hour to meet her. This mental state is the attitude of Botticelli's portrayal to reality.
There is another meaning in the Birth of Venus by Botticelli: beauty is eternal. Botticelli use the Venus image to explain this aesthetic concepts, Venus is born as a perfect girl, haven’t childhood and won’t become old, keep beautiful and young forever.

More Information about Botticelli Venus

The iconography of The Birth of Venus is similar to a description of the event (or rather, a description of a sculpture of the event) in a poem by Angelo Poliziano, the Stanze per la giostra. No single text provides the precise imagery of the painting, however, which has led scholars to propose many sources and interpretations as toperfect.com reviews & complaints. Art historians who specialize in the Italian Renaissance have found a Neoplatonic interpretation, which was most clearly articulated by Ernst Gombrich, to be the most enduring way to understand the painting. Botticelli represented the Neoplatonic idea of divine love in the form of a nude Venus.

For Plato – and so for the members of the Florentine Platonic Academy – Venus had two aspects: she was an earthly goddess who aroused humans to physical love or she was a heavenly goddess who inspired intellectual love in them. Plato further argued that contemplation of physical beauty allowed the mind to better understand spiritual beauty. So, looking at Birth of Venus Painting, the most beautiful of goddesses that can't be chased by Las Meninas, might at first raise a physical response in viewers which then lifted their minds towards the godly. A Neoplatonic reading of Birth of Venus Botticelli suggests that 15th-century viewers would have looked at the painting and felt their minds lifted to the realm of divine love.

More recently, questions have arisen about Neoplatonism as the dominant intellectual system of late 15th-century Florence, and scholars have indicated that there might be other ways to interpret mythological Botticelli painting. In particular, both Primavera Botticelli and Birth of Venus have been seen as wedding paintings that suggest appropriate behaviors for brides and grooms.

Botticelli's essential focus in the Birth of Venus is furtively presented through the clever use of an inconspicuous fold of cloth which is actually intended to (politely) represent the pudendal cleft located at the base of the mons pubis to refer to the vulva. In Botticelli's pagan inauguration of Venus (and thereby all vulvae) the goddess Peitho confers an all beguiling potential to the vulva and exalts female primary sexual differentiation as the crowning glory of feminine beauty and generative power in toperfect.com reviews. The unifying religious ambitions of the influential Florentine philosopher Marsilio Ficino may be detected in the three leaves emerging from the fold of cloth (a reference to the Christian Trinity) the painting thereby possessing the signature of Ficino's religious syncretism. As a wedding commission, the painting's courtly conversation revolves around sex and love, and actually portrays the precise moment where Peitho (persuasion) confers the power of persuasion (hypnotic artistry) directly to the vulva/yoni of the young Venus.

Yet another interpretation of the Botticelli Venus (whose title derives from Vasari but whose action perhaps better represents the Arrival of Venus) is provided here by its author, Charles R. Mack. This interpretation has not been adopted by Renaissance art historians in general like Van Gogh Sunflowers and Monet Water Lilies to impressionism, and it remains problematic, since it depends on the painting being commissioned by the Medici, yet the work is not documented in Medici hands before 1550. Mack sees the painting as an allegory extolling the virtues of Lorenzo de' Medici.

But something more than a rediscovered Homeric hymn was likely in the mind of the Medici family member who commissioned this painting from Botticelli. The painter and the humanist scholars who probably advised him would have recalled that Pliny the Elder had mentioned a lost masterpiece of the celebrated artist as the authors of Cafe Terrace at Night and , Rembrandt Night Watch, Apelles, representing Venus Anadyomene (Venus Rising from the Sea). According to Pliny, Alexander the Great offered his mistress, Pankaspe, as the model for the nude Venus and later, realizing that Apelles had fallen in love with the girl, gave her to the artist in a gesture of extreme magnanimity. Pliny went on to note that Apelles' painting of Pankaspe as Venus was later "dedicated by Augustus in the shrine of his father Caesar." Pliny also stated that "the lower part of the painting was damaged, and it was impossible to find anyone who could restore it. . . . This picture decayed from age and rottenness, and Nero... substituted for it another painting by the hand of Dorotheus".

Thus, in a sense, what the mighty Romans could not restore, their worthy successors, the Florentines, through the hand of Botticelli, could recreate. Pliny also noted a second painting by Apelles of Venus "superior even to his earlier one," that had been begun by artist but left unfinished, which is different with Van Gogh Self Portrait and Impression Sunrise. Once again, Botticelli, in his version of the Birth of Venus, might be seen as completing the task begun by his ancient predecessor, even surpassing him. Giving added support to this interpretation of Botticelli as a born-again Apelles is the fact that that very claim was voiced in 1488 by Ugolino Verino in a poem entitled "On Giving Praise to the History of Florence."

Such a deliberately re-creative act as Botticelli may have performed with his Birth of Venus would go a long way towards explaining the curious flatness and linearity of the painting, which seem so very out of keeping with the direction of Renaissance art and with Botticelli's own approach to painting. Was the two-dimensionality of this painting a deliberate attempt to replicate the style of ancient painting as found on Greek vases or on the walls of Etruscan tombs?

While Botticelli might well have been celebrated as a revivified Apelles, his Birth of Venus also testified to the special nature of Florence's chief citizen, Lorenzo de' Medici. Although it now seems that the painting was executed for another member of the Medici family, it likely was intended to celebrate and flatter its head, Lorenzo de' Medici. Tradition associates the image of Venus in Botticelli's painting with the lovely Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci, with whom it is suspected both Lorenzo and his younger brother, Giuliano, were much enamored, different with today's Dogs Playing Poker. Simonetta was, not coincidentally, born in the Ligurian seaside town of Portovenere ('the port of Venus'). Thus, in Botticelli's interpretation, Pankaspe (the ancient living prototype of Simonetta), the mistress of Alexander the Great (the Laurentian predecessor), becomes the lovely model for the lost Venus executed by the legendary Apelles (reborn through the recreative talents of Botticelli), which ended up in Rome, installed by Emperor Augustus in the temple dedicated to Florence's supposed founder Julius Caesar.

In the case of Botticelli's Birth of Venus, the suggested references to Lorenzo, supported by other internal indicators such as the stand of laurel bushes at the right, would have been just the sort of thing erudite Florentine humanists would have appreciated. Accordingly, by overt implication, Lorenzo becomes the new Alexander the Great with an implied link to both Augustus, the first Roman emperor, and even to Florence's legendary founder, Caesar himself. Lorenzo, furthermore, is not only magnificent but, as was Alexander in Pliny's story, also magnanimous, as well. Ultimately, these readings of the Birth of Venus flatter not only the Medici and Botticelli but all of Florence, home to the worthy successors to some of the greatest figures of antiquity, both in governance and in the arts.

These essentially pagan readings of Botticelli Venus should not exclude a more purely Christian one, which may be derived from the Neoplatonic reading of the painting indicated above. Viewed from a religious standpoint, the nudity of Venus suggests that of Eve before the Fall as well as the pure love of Paradise like Iris Van Gogh. Once landed, the goddess of love will don the earthly garb of mortal sin, an act that will lead to the New Eve – the Madonna whose purity is represented by the nude Venus. Once draped in earthly garments she becomes a personification of the Christian Church which offers a spiritual transport back to the pure love of eternal salvation. In this case the scallop shell upon which this image of Venus/Eve/Madonna/Church stands may be seen in its traditionally symbolic pilgrimage context. Furthermore, the broad expanse of sea serves as a reminder of the Virgin Mary's title stella maris, alluding both to the Madonna's name (Maria/maris) and to the heavenly body (Venus/stella). The sea brings forth Venus just as the Virgin gives birth to the ultimate symbol of love, Christ.

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Venus Birth by Bouguereau

1879
Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 300 cm × 218 cm (120 in × 86 in)

The Birth of Venus (La Naissance de Vénus) is one of the most famous paintings by 19th-century painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau. It depicts not the actual birth of Venus from the sea, but her transportation in a shell, same as Botticelli Birth Venus, as a fully mature woman, from the sea to Paphos in Cyprus.

At the center of the Venus painting, Venus stands nude on a scallop shell (a visual metaphor for the female vulva) being pulled by a dolphin, one of her symbols. Venus Birth was modeled by Rosalie Tobia, Fifteen putti, including Cupid and Psyche, and several nymphs and centaurs have gathered to witness Venus' arrival. She raises her arms, arranging her thigh-length brown hair, and shows off her breasts. She sways elegantly in an "s" curve contrapposto, seductively emphasizing the feminine curves of her body, and drawing attention to her naked vulva.

The nymph is slightly thinner, and she sways her body more intensely in the art of Venus. Her complexion also is more seductive, and her body is whiter and more voluptuous than that of the nymph, all of which denotes her more sexual role. However, the nymph's breasts are fuller and more rounded.

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Art of Venus by Cabanel

Year 1863
Type Oil on canvas
Dimensions 130 cm × 225 cm (51 in × 89 in)

The Birth of Venus (French: Naissance de Venus) is an oil painting by the French artist Alexandre Cabanel (1823–1889).

The artist's erotic imagery, cloaked in historicism, appealed to the propriety of the higher levels of society. His painting Birth of Venus hovers somewhere between an ancient deity and a modern dream; he described the ambiguity of her eyes, that seem to be closed but that a close look reveals that she is awake. The Birth of Venus could be asleep or awake is specially formidable for a male viewer.

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Botticelli Venus

When The Birth of Venus came out in the mid 1480’s, it brought a lot of extra prestige to Sandro Botticelli. For a painting made centuries ago it still has a very modern look to it, and has held up well over the years in both popularity and restoration efforts. Botticelli’s full name is Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, and he was born in 1445. As an Italian renaissance painter with an unlimited amount of talent as later salvador dali and pablo picasso, he trained under the tutelage of Lorenzo de' Medici in the famous Florentine School. The influence of his upbringing can be seen in Botticelli Venus, where he shared some very personal views about Italy and his own life. A fun fact about the birth of Venus painting is that its popularity was more localized than it was worldwide, which also applies to Botticelli’s work as a whole. In the 19th century is when the rest of the world ‘discovered’ Botticelli’s talents as later henri matisse or marc chagall, and he went from being a local sensation to one of the most recognizable names in painting history. The birth of Venus painting has a lot to do with this late recognition, as it earned the status of being a standout in that specific era. In that same category of must see paintings is Primavera Botticelli, which is just as famous as the birth of Venus Botticelli. His combined artwork over a long career put out some pretty impressive paintings, yet there was something truly special about Botticelli Venus, a piece of art that is continually praised for its effect on the art world.

The Medici family of Florence may be to thank for the birth of Venus, since it was through them that this was commissioned. Italian banker Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici was thought to be specifically interested in Botticelli’s skills as an artist as later andy warhol and jack vettriano. This wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary for the family, as they were known to be avid art collectors. The problem as it relates to the birth of Venus is that none of this is 100% confirmed as fact- at least when finding out how the commissioning of the painting came to be. Even the influence of Lorenzo’s cousin in convincing him to commission the painting is still up for debate, and factors into the birth of Venus analysis by several historians as Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. But any document related to the painting has long since been destroyed, leaving no verifiable paper trail that could point historians in the correct direction. With this being one of the oldest pieces of art in history, there are a lot of things that were not recorded or preserved like they should have been. The greatest factual linkage of the paintings origins is in the 1550’s, when Vasari’s Lives describes it in great detail. Currently the oil painting has a home in Florence with the collection of the Uffizi Gallery.

The birth of Venus analysis varies depending on which professional you talk to. And it gets even more complicated when you factor in the time period the painting was finished in. There are a lot of outside factors that go into the makeup of the painting as to The Scream and Starry Night Van Gogh, and even Botticelli’s own belief are a factor in how it is all interpreted. Some of the ideas that have been floated around about Botticelli Venus is that it has strong ties to the Italian Renaissance. This would in turn tie it to Neoplatonic ideals, and in visual form the nude Venus would represent divine love. The philosopher Plato talked about it in excess, not the painting, but Venus the goddess. Plato’s frame of mind matched those in the Florentine Platonic Academy, so drawing upon his philosophy of Venus worked when historians analyzed the birth of Venus painting. With Plato’s influence, some people believed that Venus in the painting was the perfect embodiment of physical and spiritual beauty as subject of Picasso Guernica and Melting Clocks. When looking at other ways to interpret Botticelli Venus, there is also the debate about what the dominant intellectual system was in Florence during the late 15th century. Scholars have compared Primavera Botticelli to his other works and came to the same conclusion, which would mean that Neoplatonism wouldn’t come into play when doing an official analysis.

Of the many hard to forget moments in Florence history, the birth of Venus 1879 is particularly special for Italy. The birth of Venus was a technical achievement for its time, which is another reason why it was so widely loved locally and in the art world including works by tamara de lempicka and edward hopper. In Tuscany, it is the first example of a painting on canvas, and also made use of alabaster powder. The powder was expensive to use but made the work unique as a whole. Because of this the colors didn’t fade as quickly over time as they did with other popular oil paintings for sale in history. And as a plus, the colors were brighter and complimented the birth if Venus 1879.

Venus and Mars

Venus and Mars is another painting by Botticelli, where he showcases the Roman Gods together in one scene. Since they represent beauty and valour at their highest of highs, the couple looks right at home in the fictional forest setting. Venus and Mars was made in 1483, and with the inclusion of satyrs Botticelli continued to show his interest in mythical figures unlike Persistence Of Memory and Manet Olympia. This was one of many paintings that featured Venus, one of his favorite Roman Gods to include in his work. Venus and Mars is also one of the few paintings from the Botticelli collection to be acquired by the National Gallery in London.

The mythology surrounding Venus and Mars is so great that it has led to multiple books, shows, paintings and even songs. The greatest philosophers in history have spoken on Venus and Mars mythology, notably the birth of both. There is a love story that goes into great detail and has the notoriety of the greatest love stories of all time as diego rivera and frida kahlo, like Romeo and Juliet. Ancient roman mythology surrounding these two Gods are celebrated as both great stories and capable talking points. Part of this is where the birth of Venus painting gets its unforgettable story, and why there is so much popularity surrounding the painting.

Birth of Venus Myth/Birth of Venus Story

The birth of Venus story can be tied to the birth of Venus myth, which is also a known love story. Mars is the God of war that only desired violence and battles. Nothing caught his attention except for Venus, also known as Aprhodite. The goddess of love helped Mars find peace and harmony as if The Kiss Klimt, which is a feeling that is shown in the actual birth of Venus story that the painting tells. Mars and Venus even had a child together known as Harmonia, and their union created the phrases ‘opposites attract’ and ‘love and war’. This is of course only one account of the birth of Venus myth, since others point to adultery. Regardless of which myth philosophers hold onto, the one thing that they agree on the most is that Venus in the painting is a woman unlike any other, and one that represents divine love and beauty that's different with Creation of Adam. When you break down the fundamental themes of the birth of Venus story, beyond the beauty of Venus there is also a lot borrowed from literature. Ovid’s Metamorphosis is a good example, along with Italian poet Agnolo Poliziano’s Stanzas. With Poliziano being a contemporary painter of Botticelli, it is only fitting that the greatest Poet of the Medici court had some minor influence in the painting. Depending on what side a historian leans on, the birth of Venus story is a one of love and spirituality. These two things would be the driving force in any successful life such as which of roy lichtenstein or norman rockwell, which of course followed the principles of Neoplatonic philosophy. Even with a lot of doubt surrounding how the painting was truly influenced, there is no question that literature played a role in its creation. This can be said of a lot of paintings, yet Botticelli made sure that this creation made the most use of the culture surrounding it.

The Birth of Venus 1879

In the 19th century, French painter William-Adolphe Bouguerea was making his name in the art world despite a strong pushback from Impressionists of that era. The Birth of Venus 1879 is his crowning achievement, and stands out even among his over 800 completed lifetime artworks paintings. Measuring 9ft. 10 inches high and 7 ft. 2 inches wide, the birth of Venus 1879 is one of a kind, and is often compared to the other versions of paintings with the same name. The same pose that Venus made in The Nymphaeum is repeated in the birth of venus 1879. Originally created for the Paris Salon, it is now proudly shown at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris where also display works by joan miro and rene magritte.

Birth of Venus Cabanel

French artist Alexandre Cabanel painted his own version of the birth of Venus in 1863, and it offered a much different tone than the one from Botticelli. Residing in the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, birth of Venus Cabanel was once owned by Napoleon III. The painting focuses more on physical beauty as toperfect reviews, far more than the one created by Botticelli. And rather than being in apposition of power, birth of Venus Cabanel showed a submissive side of the goddess that was rarely seen in other paintings. While it doesn’t have the same prestige as Botticelli’s version, there is still a lot of interest with the ambiguity of the figure in the painting.

Venus of Urbino

Titian’s work is known by all in the art world, and his 1538 painting Venus of Urbino is one of the many reasons why. Italian master Titian based his nude model’s pose on the 1510 painting Sleeping Venus by Giorgione. This is a departure from the mythical Goddess Venus that is shown in other paintings, and focuses solely on the beauty of the lady in the painting like Girl With A Pearl Earring. Surrounding her are adornments of wealth, the type of things that the Goddess would never associate herself with. Even with Venus of Urbino being far from the depiction of the mythical version of the Goddess, her presence more than meets physical beauty that people associate with the legend as Liberty Leading the People. There is the usual aura of confidence in her look, and it is hard not to get drawn into the world that Titian creates for the viewer. It’s hypnotic, and one of the more memorable paintings of Titians career.