The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli depicts the goddess Venus emerging from the sea on a seashell. It was one of the first paintings to show a nude female figure for non-religious purposes during the Renaissance. Venus is shown gracefully covering herself as she arrives on the shore. The painting was inspired by ancient Greek and Roman texts describing Venus' birth. It established a new paradigm of depicting the female nude form in a non-biblical context.

2. • The Birth of Venus is one of the most famous
and important artworks by Sandro Botticelli.
This paintings believed to be done during the
Renaissance
• Venus, The Goddess of love, here is presented
to the audience at the very exact moment of her
birth, portrayed gracefully and awkwardly
hiding her nakedness. Instead of Venus being
presented as an infant, Botticelli decided to
give us a full grown beautiful version of her.
• At the time women were never seen naked in a
Renaissance painting. The only time the naked
female form was presented was in paintings of
Eve. Venus in this case is the first female
nudes that is non-biblical. Therefore, in a
sense, this painting really marks the beginning
of humankind entering the modern era.

3. The theme of the Birth of Venus was taken from the writings of the ancient poet, Homer. According
to the traditional account, after Venus was born, she rode on a seashell and sea foam to the island of
Cythera. In the painting we see here, Venus is prominently depicted in the centre, born out of the
foam as she rides to shore.(Italian Renaissance.org, 2012)

4. What does Venus Symbolize ?

5. Zephyrus, The God of The
West Winds appears on the
right side of Venus, holding
Aura, the spring wind, and
together they are blowing
Venus to the shore.
Zephyrus is shown here as
quite powerful, as he's
effortlessly carrying Aura.
You can see the gentleness
in Auras face as she's
blowing Venus to the
shore. The flowers are also
there to represent Auras
gentleness and beauty.

7. • On Venus's left side we
see a barefooted woman
waiting for her with a pink
patterned cloak with
flowers to cover her naked
body.
• She is known as the
Goddesses of the seasons,
most likely known as
spring.
• By analyzing her body’s
position, we can see that
she's somewhat in a hurry
to cover Venus’s
nakedness.

8. Where does Venus come from?

9. So, what did we learn from the video ?
• We learn that, Botticelli's painting of Venus comes
from the classical antiquity.
• The text is actually based on Pliny the Elders account
of a legendary fresco of Venus, painted by Apelles.
• Appelles is Ancient Greeks most celebrated painter.
We also learn that, The Medici’s provided a
second source of classical inspiration of their
Roman copy of Venus

11. THE END

12. References
Diaz, R. (2012, November, 7).ArtSleuth 3: BOTTICELLI: The Birth of Venus
(final version) - Uffizi Gallery [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ZIJOX0Jjo
Italian Renaissance.org. (2012). Analysis of the art of Renaissance, Botticelli’s
Birth of Venus. Retrieved from http://www.italianrenaissance.org/botticelli-
birth-of-venus/