The Birth of Aphrodite

The Birth of Aphrodite or Venus is, a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, probably executed in the mid-1480s and is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. It depicts the goddess Aphrodite arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea fully-grown (called Aphrodite Anadyomene). Although the two are not a pair, it is inevitably discussed with Botticellis other very large mythological painting, the Primavera. They are among the most famous paintings in the world, and icons of the Italian Renaissance, of the two, the Birth is better known than the Primavera. As depictions of subjects from classical mythology on a very large scale they were virtually unprecedented in Western art since classical antiquity, as was the size and prominence of a nude female figure in the Birth. They have been endlessly analyzed by art historians, with the main themes being: the emulation of ancient painters and the context of wedding celebrations, the influence of Renaissance Neo-Platonism, and the identity of the commissioners. The paintings’ main meaning is a straightforward, if individual, treatment of a traditional scene from Greek mythology, and its appeal is sensory and very accessible, hence its enormous popularity.

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