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Essay about botticelli's venus: the making of an icon
Essay about botticelli's venus: the making of an icon
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Venus, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, sex, and fertility is renounced as one of the most profound and famous goddesses in Greek mythology. The Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli is claimed to be one of the most famous paintings in history. The reason for this is due to its overwhelming and raw beauty. Many are mesmerized by this astonishing work of art, simply because it is a painting of the goddess of beauty. Others remember the piece due to Botticelli’s brilliant use of symbolism throughout the canvas. Yet, all associate the artwork with being the first to connect Greek mythology and Renaissance art. Overall, this illustration remains one of the most famous paintings throughout time. Before discussing why The Birth of Venus is famous, one must understand where Venus …show more content…
For instance, this artwork was the prime of the Renaissance. “The Birth of Venus (1484-86) remains one of the profound treasures of the Florentine Renaissance” (www.visual-arts-cork.com). Not only do most believe The Birth of Venus is the best art piece to come out of the Renaissance, but some truly believe it as a fact. No other art piece in the world exemplifies the kind of raw and untapped beauty as this piece does. Despite the fact that some may believe Venus did not have a major impact on Greek mythology, she shaped the Greek culture, and changed the perception of Mount Olympus. “Images of Venus have been found in countless forms from sculptures to mosaics to shrines and even domestic murals and fresco” (www.ancient.eu). Venus spun the world of mythology upside down. After she was born, lust and love were injected into mortal and god; mortals could see themselves having the same problems as Venus, thus praising her more. This is why Botticelli’s painting of her stands among the greatest in history. Venus not only triumphed the Renaissance, she also propelled the world of
Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the most famous artists during the time of the Renaissance, The Mona Lisa for example, was a painting created between 1503 and 1506, it is the most famous painting ever painted. It is a portrait of the young wife of a Florentine silk merchant. It shows a young woman with her famous smile sitting on a balcony high above a landscape.
Encyclopedia Mythica. "Venus." Encyclopedia Mythica: mythology, folklore, and religion. N.p., 3 Mar. 1997. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. .
The prehistoric art is said to be a mother goddess by archeologist. Venus of Willendorf gets its name from the Roman goddess of love and beauty “Venus”, and its area of discover, because it was looked upon as beauty (Zygmont). Venus the Roman goddess also represented sex and fertility, she was looked upon highly to the the people of Rome and referred to as the mother, which is the same title people gave Venus of Willendorf. Women that resembled Venus of Willendorf was looked upon as success, during that time.
For most of the people living in modern times, art is only something they encounter while taking college courses, visiting museums, or watching Jeopardy. With this being said, your average person will only know a handful of artists, most likely of which being Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, or maybe someone a little more current, like Andy Warhol. However, there are a plethora of artists who get overlooked by almost everyone who does not own an art textbook. If one shuffles through an art textbook, skipping the major names and pieces, many other beautiful and creative works of art can be discovered that were created by lesser known artists. One of these works was done by Rogier Van Der Weyden, and it is called the Last Judgement Altarpiece, started in 1444 and finished in 1448.
Renaissance artists considered the imitation of nature their primary goal. Their search for naturalism became an end it in itself: to persuade onlookers of the reality of the object or event they were portraying. Italian artists began to focus in the area of perspective. An example is the birth of Venus. This connects back to Greco-Roman culture since Venus was one of the God’s of their religion. She is completely nude in the painting which differs very much from the Middle Ages art. Middles Ages art was regulated by religion, so this would have not been allowed. Another example is the death of Jesus, painted by Andrea Mantegna. It truly focuses on the perspective because it makes the viewer of the painting right there as if we are almost in that moment. The portrait is truly focusing on realism. The main differences between medieval and renaissance art was medieval art focused on religion. It stressed world beyond everyday life, used formal figures to express religious concerns, and portrayed scenes of the holy land. Whereas, the Renaissance focused on creating realistic scenes and images, humans were more lifelike, and
While the statue of Taweret was founded in Egypt during the late period, 26th century, “Venus of Willendorf” originally came from southern Austria ca. 28,000-23,000 BCE in the Paleolithic Period. The materials used for the subtractive sculpture also different, not only in the overall color, but also the texture of the form. Taweret was made from basalt, which is a volcanic rock, and created a smooth black surface to the animalistic goddess. However, “Venus” is carved from limestone, which is a light brown color and creates a rough texture to the touch. Finally, the main differentiated aspect of the figures revolves around the contrasting features of the animalistic and humanistic representation of the goddesses. As explained before, Taweret is depicted as a hippopotamus, presumably carefully observed to obtain a realistic image of the animal. Contrastingly, the sculptor of “Venus of Willendorf” did not aim for naturalism in shape and proportion, but instead consciously chooses to enhance the reproductive parts and the curvature of the female figure to suggest the importance of fertility through the goddess. Yet, interestingly enough left the female face out of the sculpt, but instead suggested only a mass of curly hair through stylization, or some argued a woven hat made from plant fibers. This left mystery and neglection of deity identification during this period, and not a
The Birth of Venus is a beautiful Renaissance canvas masterpiece created by Sandro Botticello. The picture illustrates the birth of Venus in a very mystical way. Venus has emerged from sea on a shell which is being driven to shore by flying wind-gods. She is surrounded by beautiful roses which are painted in a truly remarkable color. As she is about to step to land, one of the Hours hands her a purple cloak. The back drop includes the sea and a forest. The overall effect of this painting are almost overwhelming, color and beauty meet the eye in every angle.
Peter Paul Rubens’ masterpiece, Venus and Adonis, is not only a significant artwork of the baroque-period in Europe during the 17th century, but it also tells the mythological story that begins with love, and ends in tragedy. Displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this painting is admired for representing the unique baroque-style of this era, as well as Rubens’ particular use of the medium and how it reaches those who are viewing it. His attention to detail and crafty use of symbolism within the painting assist viewers in deciphering the story, along with the values of the time period in which Rubens was living. In studying the composition of the work and noting the historical context from which it came, one can ultimately understand Rubens’ point-of-view and thus, connect to the painting in a way he or she has never imagined.
painting of a woman be so famous?” Well, probably one of the reasons this painting is
Located in a hallway nestled between the Art of Europe and Art of Ancient Worlds wings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is the Italian Renaissance Gallery (Gallery 206). Here, Donatello’s Madonna of the Clouds and Luca della Robbia’s Virgin and child with lilies face one another, vying for museum-goers’ attention from alternate sides of the narrow gallery. Both pieces indulge ingenious techniques, original at the time of conception, to create a completely new visual experience of a very traditional biblical scene, the Virgin Mary with her child, Jesus Christ. This paper will employ close visual analysis of two 15th-century Renaissance reliefs from Florence depicting the Virgin Mary and Jesus Chris in order to show how these artists used innovative
Greece is famously known world widely for its spectacular artworks. People are familiarized with its sculptures, paintings, and mosaics, but not many know how its art has been transforming from time to time. An explicit example would be the drastic changes from Aphrodite of Knidos to The Old Market Woman.
...ver surpass its extraordinary success. The vast collection of the antique nude arose from this age and enriched the world today with its remarkable work. It seems that as Michelangelo explains God sparked divine gifts into their intellect, gifts designed to be shared and enjoyed with the whole world.
The age of the figurine has been changed several times. Originally, when found, the date was estimated to be 15,000 to 10,000 BCE. During the 1970’s the time period was adjusted to 25,000 to 20,000 BCE; the date was again recalculated in the 1980’s to 30,000 to 25,000 BCE; the most recent estimate of age was in the 1990’s and was placed at 24,000 to 22,000 BCE after scientific research was performed on the rock stratification. This statuette was discovered by Josef Szombathy in 1908 near the town of Willendorf, Austria, in an Aurignacian loess deposit, which loosely defined is a yellow brown loamy geological deposit dating to the Paleolithic period. The name Venus was first associated with the figurine as a joke.
The Renaissance was a time when people began to think and see things differently. It was a time for new innovations. People wanted to study the past and learn more about culture. People began to see important in human emotion, and they began to see that there was much more rather than just religion. Europe was facing many problems like the Black Death. But the problems caused a shift in the world view of people in 14th century Italy. During the early 1400’s, Europe witnessed a major rebirth of fine art painting, sculpture, drawing and architecture. Early Renaissance art had its birth of creativity and development in Florence, Italy, which eventually spread to Western Europe. Italy contained the status of being the richest trading nation with both Europe and the Orient, Italy was fortunate to be left with a huge repository of classical ruins and artifacts. In almost every town and city, examples of Roman architecture and sculpture, including copies of sculptures from Ancient Greece, had been familiar for centuries. The decline of Constantinople and the capital of the Byzantine Empire caused many Greek scholars to go to Italy, bringing knowl...
The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli depicts a moment from Venus birth when she stepping, almost floating, off the seashell that was blown ashore by Zephyors along with Chloris. Horae awaits Venus arrival to shore with a large red cloak to cover her naked body .Venus is the Roman goddess of love, sex, beauty, fertility, and prostitution. Venus is the Roman Aphrodite. Born of seafoam from a singled drop of blood in to the sea from the castration of her farther Uranus by his son Saturn.