Italian Renaissance – Primavera by Sandro Botticelli

 

Botticelli, Sandro. Primavera. Late 1470s – early 1480s c. The Uffizi. Florence, Italy.

Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera, which translates to spring, is a painting using tempera grassa on wood. The piece currently resides in the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy. It was painted in Florence and was commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici and his brother Giovanni "Il Popolano", cousins to Lorenzo de' Medici, in the late 1470s to early 1480s (Spring by Botticelli 2024).

This painting embodies the spirit of the Renaissance in several ways. First, the forms depict the impact of humanism with the use of figures from classical mythology rather than biblical themes. Zephyrus transforms a nymph named Chloris into the spring goddess Flora on the right. Venus overlooks the scene while Cupid fires an arrow in the middle. To the far left, we have Mercury poking at the sky with his staff. Just to his right, we see the whimsical dance of the three Graces. We also see the use of form to depict the human body is greatly influenced by sculptures of the time. One of the Graces has her back almost completely towards us displaying the musculature of her thighs and even the backs of her feet. The amount of detail, including 138 uniquely identified species of flowers, is staggering (Spring by Botticelli 2024). You can almost feel the wreath around Flora’s neck or the grass under Venus’ toes through Botticelli’s use of detail to create a texture. The darkness of the grass and forest has deepened over time but still shows us the lushness of spring. The line here between figures also displays a hierarchy with Venus at the peak (or perhaps Cupid!).

The best part of this painting is its vague meaning. Everyone comes away with something different and that is something the most inspiring works seem to capture so well. Whether it’s Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, there are so many different views that the art itself is the muse for the imagination. For what it’s worth, here’s my hot take.

This painting was done when Botticelli was in his prime. The Medicis were his patrons, Florence was at the height of its renewal, and he was still relatively young at 35-40 years old. The youthful figures, the lush spring scenery, and the whimsy of the characters all represent his youth. Even the use of mythical figures represents a thumb in the eye to the more traditional biblical themes and teachings before this era. Later in life, Botticelli gets progressively more religious and sometimes even cruel. He would play mean practical jokes on apprentices and even accused an old friend of heresy in front of the curate of the Inquisition (Gebhart and Charles 140). His work also got progressively darker and was highly influenced by Dante’s works. He also allegedly burned several of his works based on classical mythology in his religious zeal.

 This painting captures Sandro Botticelli’s James Dean’s Rebel Without a Cause phase albeit the painter himself might have been unaware. Perhaps the subconscious was prompting the subject matter. Is the center Grace, commonly called Chastity, being pierced with one of Cupid’s arrows? Is she giving googly eyes to Mercury? Whatever the real meaning behind these images that Botticelli intended, it makes us wonder. That inquisitiveness is what I relate to that period in Botticelli's life where the possibilities are endless and a little rebellion is sometimes required to challenge your thoughts. He may have even become resentful of that younger version of himself as he aged, which to me makes the piece even more intriguing.

This piece is probably too large to display in most homes if you’re not a Medici. The piece measures 217 by 319 cm, roughly 7x10 ft (Spring by Botticelli 2024). A print might display well in an office or study. The subject matter allows for the viewer's thoughts to wander as is common or even encouraged in those settings.  

 

Works Cited:

Spring by Botticelli (2024). Uffizi Galleries. Available at: https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/botticelli-spring (Accessed: 17 June 2024).

Gebhart, Emile, and Victoria Charles. Botticelli, Parkstone International, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uaf/detail.action?docID=915127.