How to Read Paintings: The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli
The birth of an Olympian goddess as an emblem of sacred love
Alessandro Botticelli’s painting of The Birth of Venus has few rivals in the history of art. It is not only an intricately composed image, but at nearly three metres wide, it achieves a level of spatial grandeur that elevates it to a type of painted theatre.
The scene that unfolds before our eyes is simple to grasp: Venus floats on the sea on a large scallop shell, blown towards the shore by the breath of two wind-gods, whilst a nymph waits on dry land to cover her in a pink cloak.
According to one of the earliest Greek poets, Hesiod, Venus’ birth was a result of the castrated genitals of Uranus being cast out into the sea. Venus floated ashore on the shell and finally landed at Paphos in Cyprus (other traditions say she landed on the island Kythira). Her Greek name, Aphrodite, is probably derived from the Greek word for foam, aphros.
Venus was one of the twelve Olympian deities and presided over love and fertility. Depictions of her were especially popular in antiquity. The Venus seen here derives from the “Venus Anadyomene” type — meaning “rising from the sea” — and shows her standing upright, wringing water from her hair. The form has its roots in classical…
