Sandro Botticelli's Primavera

Introduction

Primavera, the largest mythological painting of the Early Renaissance, is believed to have been commissioned by the Medici family and hung in the bedroom of a bride of one its members. As the years have gone by, many interpretations have been given as to the story behind Botticelli's Primavera. This work has a humanistic nature and is believed to reflect contemporary cultural influences and express many modern texts. In his philosophical didactic poem, De Rerum Nature, the classical writer Lucretius celebrated the goddess Venus in a single spring scene (Kwakkelstein, pp. 14). As the passage also contains other figures that feature in Botticelli's group, it is probably one of the main sources for the painting; "Spring-time and Venus come, / And Venus' boy, the winged harbinger, steps on before, / And hard on Zephyr's foot-prints Mother Flora, / Sprinkling the ways before them, filleth all / With colours and with odours excellent. " Most analysts agree that the central theme of Primavera is one of love and marriage and a message that when these two occur in the 'correct' order they bring forth sensuality and fertility.

Primavera Analysis

The painting is set in a meadow complete with flowers and trees. It shows nine figures, all based on a mythological text. The man on the far left is Mercury and he separates the clouds so that spring may come. Cupid is above Venus and is known for his lack of morality and his attempts to take apart marriages. Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, is in the center of the picture surrounded by the Three Graces. Venus is elegantly dressed and obviously reigns over the land. She is no longer the young girl featured in the painting Birth of Venus. Venus is the goddess who protects and cares for the institution of marriage. The myrtle plant surrounding her is traditionally thought of as the plant that represents sexual desire, marriage and child bearing (Barolsky, pp. 65).

Venus supports the fact that marriage is where sexuality is experienced, not before, and the Three Graces also represent this. They portray the female virtues chastity, beauty and love and their long, flowing coverings are characteristic of Botticelli's painting style. On the right, covered in flowers is Flora, the goddess of flowers and blossoms. The story about how Flora came into existence begins with her former self, Chloris. Chloris was in the woods when Zephyr, the wind god on the far right of the painting, found and raped her.

To prove to Chloris that he was sorry for his violence, he married her and declared her Flora, the goddess of flowers. Botticelli depicted Chloris turning into Flora by literally painting flowers coming out of Chloris' mouth. In this small detail, Botticelli was seen to have followed the mythology stories very closely. The story of Chloris alone shows that this painting was meant to celebrate a marriage. The fact that Chloris was not the one to choose her mate reflects 15th century culture where women had ...