UNIT 2
Primavera
(Allegory of spring)
Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the Florentine school during the Early Renaissance. He was the principal painter in Florence in the second half of the 15th century. His refined and feminine style was outside mainstream of the Florentine art.
The Primavera is, however, significantly illustrative of Renaissance classicistic iconography and form. It was painted along with two other large mythological paintings for the marriage of a minor Medici in 1482.
Classical gods almost naked and life-size and a complex philosophical symbolism requiring deep knowledge of Renaissance literature and syncretism to interpret are depicted on this picture.
Venus is standing in the center of the picture, set slightly back from the other figures. Above her, Cupid is aiming one of his arrows of love at the Charites (Three Graces), who are elegantly dancing a rondel. The Grace on the right side has the face of Caterina Sforza, also painted by Botticelli in a famous portrait Catherine of Alexandria. The garden of Venus, the goddess of love, is guarded on the left by Mercury, who stretches out his hand to touch the fruit. Mercury, who is lightly clad in a red cloak covered with flames, is wearing a helmet and carrying a sword, clearly characterizing him as the guardian of the garden. The messenger of the gods is also identified by means of his winged shoes and the caduceus staff which he used to drive two snakes apart and make peace; Botticelli has depicted the snakes as winged dragons. From the right, Zephyrus, the god of the winds, is forcefully pushing his way in, in pursuit of the nymph Chloris. Next to her walks Flora, the goddess of spring, who is scattering flower.
In the Primavera, Botticelli used spring to develop four overlapping discussions: nature’s cosmic order and renewal, nature’s divine sexuality and marriage as civilization, Florentine political prosperity under the Medici, and a larger Florentine cultural rebirth displaying the high minded wisdom and leadership of the Medici.
Primavera is a great example of Botticelli’s great skill at composing, that is, at ordering particular motifs into larger compositional patterns on the picture plane. Due to a special concept of drawing outlines he managed to create the effect of transparency, and to give the painting a certain fluidity and harmony greater amount of luminosity, as well as a softer look of pride. Botticelli accentuated the elegance of the pose and the decoration of the characters also.
The symbols, the story line, the style of this artwork all come together to form a harmonious conception that the renewal of spring brings. Botticelli’s every brush stroke signifies the beauty and mysteriousness of the mythological story depicted in this piece. Botticelli brings to life the peacefulness and abundance of new life to Venus’s garden. This painting is truly a highlight of Renaissance culture and art at its peak, with the fluid brush strokes, the statuesque characters and the true meaning of spring brought together.