David Jobling
Botticelli's Primavera
April 7th 2006 10:57
This is a painting that we’ve probably all seen in fragments, and being a lover of renaissance art I thought it was important to do a piece on this work. It’s title Primavera means spring. And if nothing else, it’s an amazing piece of artwork aesthetically-I think I could stare at it for hours.
Background to the work:
The painting was commissioned by Lorenzo the Magnificent for his adolescent cousin. Lorenzo’s cousin was about 15 at the time and the painting was to be hung in his bedroom. The idea’s behind the painting were also inspired by Marsilio Ficino, the boy’s tutor. This is really important in terms of the subject matter of the painting, but you’ll have to wait for a while to see why.
Analysis.
It can be argued that the painting is meant to be viewed from right to left. If we view it this way then we start with Zephyr, the warm west wind of spring. He is characterised by his blue colour and his cheeks convey the blowing action he represents. The harsh diagonal lines that make up his body illustrate the suddenness and force of the west wind as one of Spring’s surprises.
Zephyr is trying to grab, Chloris an earth nymph so he can satisfy his lust. She of course is running away but her clothes are think and almost transparent. The whole episode is basically really sudden and seems rash.
Next we have Flora, the bringer of Spring. Now according to mythology, after Zephyr has his way with Chloris she is transformed into Flora. In the painting flowers fall from Chloris’s mouth and onto the dress of Flora showing the connection of the transformation. The painting shows the transformation in progress as opposed to the final product.
On the other side of the painting we have the three graces dancing. The first grace on the right is Love or Lust, is bold. Her hair is untidy and a brooch accentuates her curves. Next to her we have Chastity, who by having her back to us is protecting her modesty, her hair in contrast is in a tight bun. Then we have Beauty, who is dressed more elaborately then the other two graces. Basically here we see the relationship between Zephyr, Chloris and Flora experiencing a metamorphosis to the dance of the three graces, Love/Lust, Chastity and Beauty.
The person who’s responsible for this change is of course Venus, the focal/main point of the painting. She’s higher then everyone else in terms of composition. Here Botticelli is very clever, he couldn’t give Venus a halo because that would be sacrilege-so instead he puts a window behind her face so you have the same sort of light emanating behind her-creating the same effect.
The last figure is Mercury, who was the god of wisdom. He is the ultimate contrast to Zephyr not only ideologically but compositionally. He’s completely upright and ‘calm’ where Zephyr was diagonal and rash.
In a nutshell:
Basically, Lorenzo commissioned this painting as a sort of way about educating his cousin about the birds and bees. Being that the boy was only 15 and that his teacher had an influence in the painting explains why we start with lust and end with wisdom. It was basically a renaissance way of saying “be good, and don’t do anything until your in ‘love’”. Which makes hanging the painting in the boy’s bedroom a constant reminder of just that.
the info for this post was taken from M O'toole's The language of displayed art.
Background to the work:
The painting was commissioned by Lorenzo the Magnificent for his adolescent cousin. Lorenzo’s cousin was about 15 at the time and the painting was to be hung in his bedroom. The idea’s behind the painting were also inspired by Marsilio Ficino, the boy’s tutor. This is really important in terms of the subject matter of the painting, but you’ll have to wait for a while to see why.
Analysis.
It can be argued that the painting is meant to be viewed from right to left. If we view it this way then we start with Zephyr, the warm west wind of spring. He is characterised by his blue colour and his cheeks convey the blowing action he represents. The harsh diagonal lines that make up his body illustrate the suddenness and force of the west wind as one of Spring’s surprises.
Zephyr is trying to grab, Chloris an earth nymph so he can satisfy his lust. She of course is running away but her clothes are think and almost transparent. The whole episode is basically really sudden and seems rash.
Next we have Flora, the bringer of Spring. Now according to mythology, after Zephyr has his way with Chloris she is transformed into Flora. In the painting flowers fall from Chloris’s mouth and onto the dress of Flora showing the connection of the transformation. The painting shows the transformation in progress as opposed to the final product.
On the other side of the painting we have the three graces dancing. The first grace on the right is Love or Lust, is bold. Her hair is untidy and a brooch accentuates her curves. Next to her we have Chastity, who by having her back to us is protecting her modesty, her hair in contrast is in a tight bun. Then we have Beauty, who is dressed more elaborately then the other two graces. Basically here we see the relationship between Zephyr, Chloris and Flora experiencing a metamorphosis to the dance of the three graces, Love/Lust, Chastity and Beauty.
The person who’s responsible for this change is of course Venus, the focal/main point of the painting. She’s higher then everyone else in terms of composition. Here Botticelli is very clever, he couldn’t give Venus a halo because that would be sacrilege-so instead he puts a window behind her face so you have the same sort of light emanating behind her-creating the same effect.
The last figure is Mercury, who was the god of wisdom. He is the ultimate contrast to Zephyr not only ideologically but compositionally. He’s completely upright and ‘calm’ where Zephyr was diagonal and rash.
In a nutshell:
Basically, Lorenzo commissioned this painting as a sort of way about educating his cousin about the birds and bees. Being that the boy was only 15 and that his teacher had an influence in the painting explains why we start with lust and end with wisdom. It was basically a renaissance way of saying “be good, and don’t do anything until your in ‘love’”. Which makes hanging the painting in the boy’s bedroom a constant reminder of just that.
the info for this post was taken from M O'toole's The language of displayed art.
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