Botticelli's La Primavera

Hektor Paris

"You could devote your whole life to [classical scholarship], neglecting your finances, appearance, and health, only to be rewarded with the indifference of the uneducated, the mockery of the half-educated, and the spiteful quibbles of the learned."

-Erasmus

Jun 03 2009

Botticelli’s La Primavera

Botticelli's La Primavera La Primavera (c. 1482), an Early Renaissance masterpiece by Sandro Botticelli, is a captivating illustration of Greek mythology icons that restarted my interest in the ancient Greek and Roman legends. I was fortunate enough to receive a canvas print of La Primavera from Eddie Shabot, owner of ArtMaster Galleri and co-founder of Tatoot.

Born Alessandro Di Mariano Filipepi in 1445 Florance, Italy; Botticelli or Il Botticelli (”The Little Barrel”) was an Early Renaissance artist whose resume includes portraits for the powerful Medici family and wall frescoes in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican.

Botticelli’s most famous masterpieces though are La Primavera and The Birth of Venus (c. 1485). They are among the most recognizable paintings of Florentine art.

La Primavera

Hermes and the Three Graces in Botticelli's La Primavera

Housed at the Uffizi Gallery of Florence in Italy, La Primavera (spring in Italian) is a tempera painting (measuring 80″ x 124″) that is assumed to have been painted for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici c.1482. La Primavera masterfully illustrates in life-size the gathering of key Greek mythology gods in a Garden of Eden type scenario, that is open to interpretation.

Hermes, god of fortune and messenger to Zeus, stands in the far-left holding his caduceus with which he impedes a god of wind from hovering above the gathering. The Three Graces who are goddesses of grace, beauty and joy, stand next to Hermes while holding hands and dancing in a circle.

Cupid, Venus, Chloe and Zephyrus

Eros, god of love, is center-top depicted as a plump infant (though he is sometimes shown as a handsome youth) holding his bow and arrow. Below Eros is Aphrodite, goddess of beauty, shown in full dress as opposed to being nude which is how she is typically illustrated, as is the case with Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. Adjacent to Aphrodite is Flora, goddess of flowers and the season of spring, wearing an elaborate dress decorated with flowers. Next to last is the Nymph Chloris who is associated with spring, flowers and new growth, trying to avoid being kidnapped by Zephyros, god of the west wind.