Sandro Botticelli - Spring

• Title: Spring (Primavera)
• Artist: Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445-1510)
• Date: c. 1480
• Medium: Tempera on wood panel
• Dimensions: 202 × 314 cm

The “Allegory of Spring” or “Primevera” depicts figures from classical mythology in an orange grove with hundreds of plant and flower species. It was commissioned to celebrate the wedding of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, nephew of Lorenzo il Magnifico ruler of Florence, with Semiramide Appiano, from a rich family.

One interpretation of the painting is that Venus is in the middle and represents the bride Semiramide. She is wearing a blue dress and draped in red blue, with a halo formed by the blue sky between the trees. Her hair style resembles that for a Florentine wedding. Cupid, mythical son of Venus, is flying over her head. The spouse, Lorenzo, might be represented as Mercury on the left of the painting with the color red of his drapes reminding us of the bride’s. He holds the caduceus towards some thin gray clouds as to push them away and preserve the perfect Spring, maybe a symbol that as a husband he will ensure the future is clear.

On the right, the blue-winged figure is Zephyrus, the West wind who brings spring and early-summer breezes. Zephyrus kidnaps the nymph Chloris, whom he later marries, and transforms into a deity, Flora, goddess of flowers and Spring, bearer of life, here seen scattering roses on the ground and wearing a dress embroidered. On the other side of Venus, three Graces join hands in an elegant dance. The Graces represent the ideal of Beauty at the time- blonde, long hair, long faces and necks, a slim body with a little rounded belly.