Analysis of the work “The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli

The Renaissance is characterized by the intellectual and artistic flourishing of culture, which reached its peak in the 16th century. Medieval asceticism and contempt for all earthly things are now being replaced by an insatiable interest in the real world, in man, in the consciousness of the beauty and greatness of nature. One of the most important principles of perception of works of art becomes pleasure. [2] One of the most famous artists of the Renaissance was Sandro Botticelli, a representative of the Florentine school. The writing “The Birth of Venus” preceded the time when Botticelli was most passionate about antiquity. In the paintings of the Renaissance, man always forms the center of the composition, the whole world is built around him and for him, and it is he who is the main character, the active spokesman for the content. The problem of the correlation of beauty, physical and spiritual, constantly stood up in front of the artist, he tried to solve it, giving the pensive pagan body of his Venus the face of a pensive Madonna. The picture is a naked goddess who swims to the shore in an open shell, driven by the wind. In the left part of the picture Zephyr in the arms of his wife Chloris blows on the sink, creating a breeze filled with flowers. On the shore of the goddess meets one of the graces. In the pose of Venus, you can see the influence of classical Greek sculpture. The way it rests on one leg, the line of the hip, the chaste hand gesture and the very proportions of the body are based on the canon of harmony and beauty, developed by Policlet and Praxitele (see Fig. 1). Fig. 1. In the inventory records “The Birth of Venus” was listed as “Venus in the sea, standing on the shell”. The picture was damaged by the fact that it was once shortened by about half a meter vertically and a quarter of a meter horizontally, especially when it was removed from above and to the left. If we mentally supplement the lost strips of the canvas, we get such a ratio of figures and surrounding space, as if we had gone a couple of steps and saw a spectacle that differs from the present one, first of all, by the abundance of air over Venus and behind flying Zephyr and his wife Flora. Separated from the edges of the picture, they will be in free flight, and the grove, instead of bending low over the Spring, will lift its slender trunks in a joyful greeting. The figures acquire a truly Quentraventist grace, and the picture will become somewhat flat, which is beyond doubt: the reason for its ruthless arrest was the desire to give it monumentality and spatial depth. After all, foreground figures that do not fit into the frame, certainly become heavy and push the background deep into. Contrary to the impression that arises today that Venus is enclosed in an arch formed by more or less symmetrical masses on the sides, Sandro did not intend to impart such a bombast to the “story”. The axis of symmetry, which now passes through the tip of the goddess’s toe, first coincided with the place where its sharp heel rests against the tubercle of the shell. Her whole figure turned out to be noticeably to the right of this axis, and the viewer saw that the goddess was sliding not towards him, but towards the right, towards the shore. Instead of the present effect of the presence, as it were, at arm’s length and the associated sensation of almost compulsory participation in a mythical act, Sandro suggested that the viewer carefreely admire the spectacle, detached and closed in its harmonic completeness. In the image of Zefir blowing, flowing hair and movement, life and energy are expressed, thus Botticelli followed the assumptions outlined in the works of the theorist of the Renaissance art of Leon Battista Alberti. Botticelli also relied on the Treatise on Painting by Cennino Cennini, which describes, among other things, the crushing of lapis lazuli to get blue paint (cornflowers on Grace’s dress) and the principle of applying the thinnest gold leaf (purple cape of Venus). Among the innovations Botticelli important was the use of the canvas, rather than the board, to produce such a large size. He added a minimal amount of fat to the pigments, so that the canvas remained strong and elastic for a long time, and the paint did not crack. It is also interesting that the whole compositional scheme, according to Gombrich’s analysis, goes back to the traditional “Baptism” scheme (to the “Coronation of the Madonna” scheme. [3]. This principle of composition and figurativeness is not a mixture of antiquity and the Middle Ages, as it was thought at the end of the 19th century, and by creating a new symbolic language, including a rethought of antiquity and the Middle Ages, the experience of creating a “historical picture” and not just “history”, in the sense of Alberti. The birth of Venus from water is easily compared with the idea of ​​”rebirth of the soul in the waters of baptism”, and, coz Asno Pico della Mirandola, the biblical expression “the spirit of God was hovering over the waters” is consistent with the breathing of Eros or Botticelli’s Zephyrs, which move and inspire to life the just born Venus. It has long been noted that fragile Venus Botticelli reminds a bit of a classic prototype, but very close to the images of his mournful Madonnas. Botticelli’s picture captures that moment, that midnight clock, when it was still “… the light has no power.”