Sandro Botticelli Primavera Analysis

Introduction

One of the highest expressions of an ideal return to the Golden Age in the Florence of Lorenzo the Magnificent (Fossi 268).

Artist

Sandro Botticelli (Fossi 268)

Title and Location

Primavera, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence (Fossi 268-9)

Date, Signature, and Inscription

ca. 1481-1482 (Fossi 269)

Artistic and Historic Age

Done during Botticelli’s most productive years. He had a well-establish reputation at this point. Commissions from wealthy families, who wanted mythological or literary scenes. Botticelli worked with other painters and his own workshop. In the 1480s, Botticelli created the large format mythological and allegorical paintings, including Primavera and The Birth of Venus, that have become some of his most famous

In the Stanze written for the 1475 tournament of Giuliano de’Medici, he described a garden with the Three Graces and Zephyrus chasing after Flora. This interpretation would confirm the identification of most of the figures seen (Fossi 268).

However, none of these sources contain the full scene that Botticelli depicts here. This full combination of characters is his own creation (Grömling 62).

The amorous connection between Venus and Mercury, and their child Cupid, is signified by the frame coming from cupids arrow, the flame pattern on Mercury’s clothing, and the flames on the necklines of Venus’s dress (Grömling 62).

Nine figures from classical mythology gathered in a flowering spring garden, bordered by a grove of orange, pine, and bay trees. All of these are identifiable. The figures seems to be “strangely lost in reverie” and do not interact with each other much, their gaze unfocused (Grömling 61).

Venus is in the center of the painting, set slightly back (Grömling 61). Behind Venus is a myrtle tree, one of her symbols. She raises her hand in greeting and welcoming the observer to her kingdom (Grömling 60).

Cupid is above her, aiming his arrow at the Three Graces, who are elegantly dancing a roundel (Grömling

Nearly all of these flower during April and May (Grömling 60). In 1982, the painting was studied by a team of botanists, who identified nearly two hundred different species present (Fossi 269).

Regarding the Three Graces, this tale was described by the Roman poet Seneca and was well-known in the 15th century because Alberti recommended it as an excellent subject for a picture in his treatise on painting (Grömling 54). They are part of Venus’s entourage (Grömling 61). They may be the symbol of Liberality (Fossi 268).

Primavera is one of the first surviving paintings from the post-classical period in which classical gods are are depicted almost naked and life sized (Grömling 61).

Botticelli translates the classical figures into a more modern representation. We can see the contemporary ideal of beauty in the women’s domed stomaches (Grömling 61).

Style

Botticelli shows little interest in using perspective. The figures are arranged in a row, on a narrow strip of grass and plants form a backdrop. Venus is the only figure set apart from this line (Grömling 61).

The canvas size is 203 x 314cm, very large (Fossi 269)