Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli Serving Tray

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, tempera painting on wood panel 1486, depicts the newly born Venus emerging from the sea as a woman riding atop a great sea shell to the shore. Flowers float in the winds blown by the flying figures that propel the goddess ashore, while a female figure welcomes her. The sinuous figure of Venus with long, flowing blonde hair, is adapted from the sculpture of classical antiquity, with its distinctive contrapposto pose of opposing S curves and shifting weight around a central axis. Botticelli’s masterpiece is an icon of the Italian Renaissance and western culture, and a complex metaphor for love, beauty and art. Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) was a Florentine painter of the of the early Italian Renaissance who apprenticed under the master Filippo Lippi. With strong Gothic influences, the mature work of Botticelli reflected a study of antique classical sculpture and was noted for its linear grace and rhythm, flattened relief-like forms with strong contours, and subtle coloring. The complexity of meanings in Botticelli’s compositions, from sources drawn from classical antiquity, mythology and philosophy, enthralled scholars for centuries.