Based on a poem, The Birth of Venus can trace its true origins to ancient Greek mythology. What the painting portrays is not actually Venus's birth out of the waves, but the moment when she arrives at Paphos in Cyprus. The myth is that Venus was created when the Titan Cronus castrated his father, the god Uranus. The genitals of Uranus fell into the sea, fertilized it, causing the conception of Venus. And so upon arriving at Paphos, Venus is blown ashore by Zephyr and Chloris who together form the west wind in the upper left of the painting. She is also greeted on the right by a nymph, possible one of the three Horae who were the goddesses of the seasons and attendants to Venus. The nymph is dressed in a dress and is holding a robe decorated with many spring flowers approprate to the theme of birth. In the upper right corner is a wooded shore with an orange grove. Each leaf and blossom is touched with gold to accentuate the paintings role as a precious object and to echo the divine status of Venus. And finally, in the center of the picture, is the shell upon which Venus makes her entry into this world. (WebMuseum 1996)
Some may argue that Botticelli's The Birth of Venus lacks many of the stylistic qualities of Early Renaissance painting. They may contend that Botticelli's Venus is out of proportion and is not as well formed as other painted figures of the period. They may say that, "Botticelli's figures look less than solid. They are not so correctly drawn as Pollaiuolo or Masaccio's. The graceful movements and melodious lines of his composition recall the Gothic tradition of Ghiberti and Fra Angelico, perhaps even the art of the fourteenth century." (WebMuseum 1996) That would mean that perhaps The Birth of Venus is closer to being Gothic in style rather than Early Renaissance. However, the picture does not have a medieval appearance. The figures have volume, which their Gothic predecessors lack. Venus, although not anatomically or proportionally precise, is still a soft, voluptuous, idealized figure with an ethereal presence. Her disproportion is not the first thing noticed:
Botticelli's Venus is so beautiful that we do not notice the unnatural length of her neck, the steep fall of her shoulders and the queer way her left arm is hinged to the body. Or, rather, we should saythat these liberties which Botticelli took with nature in order to achieve a graceful outline add to the beauty and harmony of the design because they enhance the impression of an infinitely tender and delicate being, wafted to our shores as a giftfrom Heaven. (WebMuseum 1996)The "liberties" that Botticelli took with proportion and anatomical correctness come together to form a harmonious picture. Harmony is one of the key ideas of the Renaissance period, along with balance and order, that artists strove to incorporate into their work. Therefore, The Birth of Venus embodies a key style idea of Early Renaissance art.
The Early Renaissance was the beginning of a very tumultuous era in all areas, but especially art. The Italian culture was experienceing an intellectual awakening. Classical (meaning ancient Greek) culture was being revived in all areas from literature to home life to art. The people were reaching back to what they considered the pinnacle of civilization. Great things happened in the art world: mathematical perspective was invented; and artists were now a part of the liberal arts. For the first time, artists were recognized as having an actual talent that required creativity and genius that separated them from the ordinary manual worker. And of course all artists of the time were men. Once again, as in Greek times, women were oppressed and kept locked away at home. Although women were almost excluded from society, they were the subject of a great many paintings. Beautiful, nude, women were painted again and again, yet supposedly not for any sexual or erotic reason but because they were a "symbol of Humanitas, an image of beauty intended to inspire men's most noble thoughts." (Legouix 67) This practice was called neo-platonism. Neo-platonism was the belief that all life "was linked to God by a spiritual circuit continuously ascending and descending, so that all revelation, whether from the Bible, Plato, or classical myths, was being phases of this same circuit, were one." (Janson 470). Beauty was considered part of this circuit as well and so men believed that by contemplating a beautiful woman they were getting closer to God. However, this idea drew the suspicions of ordinary people who were not a part of the highly educated classes and the philosophy came under religious attack. According to the neo-platonism philosophy the nude Venus born of the sea, as in Botticelli's work, was interchangable with the Virgin Mary. This sort of "paganism" is what upset the ordinary people of the time. Reportedly, even Botticelli began to feel as the ordinary people did, and burned several of his "pagan" paintings and the returned to portraying religious images (Janson 471).
The product of an era in turmoil, a divine
philosophy, and a beautiful classic myth, Botticelli's The Birth of
Venus is an unforgettable painting. On one canvas Botticelli
has managed to capture the beauty of the ancient story of a birth of a
goddess creating a harmonious, ethereal image that also documents an aspect
of the times in which it was created. It is no mystery why The
Birth of Venus is one of the most reknowned and celebrated works of
the Early Renaissance period
