The history of the creation of the painting spring. "Spring" by Botticelli
The plot of the painting "Spring" Sandro Botticelli borrowed from two ancient Roman poets - Ovid and Lucretius. Ovid told about the origin of the goddess of spring and flowers, Flora. The once young beauty was not a goddess, but a nymph named Chloris. The god of the wind Zephyr saw and fell in love with her and forcibly took her as a wife. Then, to atone for his insane impulse, he turned his beloved into a goddess and presented her with a delightful garden. It is in this garden that the action of the great canvas by Botticelli unfolds. As for Lucretius, the great master of painting of the Renaissance found the idea for creating the composition "Spring" with him.
The figures depicted in the painting have many meanings. First of all, they symbolize the spring months. Zephyr, Chloris and Flora is March as spring brings the first breeze of Zephyr wind. Venus with Cupid hovering above her, as well as graceful dancing in a dance - April. The son of the goddess Maya Mercury is May.
History of creation
One of his main masterpieces Botticelli created by order of the omnipotent Duke of Florence Lorenzo Medici. He needed it as a wedding present for his close relative, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco. Therefore, the symbolism of the picture is closely related to the wish for a happy and virtuous family life.
Central images
Venus is presented here primarily as a virtuous goddess of conjugal love, which is why her appearance is similar to that of the Madonna. Graceful grace is the embodiment of female virtues - Chastity, Beauty and Pleasure. Their long hair is entwined with pearls, symbolizing purity. Young Flora walks unhurriedly, throwing beautiful roses on her way. This is exactly what was done at weddings. Above the head of the goddess of love Venus hovers a winged Cupid with a blindfold on, because love is blind.
Almost all the female characters of the picture, first of all - Venus and Flora - outwardly resemble the prematurely deceased first beauty of Florence Simonetta Vespucci. There is a version that the artist was secretly and hopelessly in love with her. Perhaps it was thanks to this reverent, chaste love that Botticelli managed to create such a sublime canvas.
The fate of the masterpiece
For a long time, "Spring" was kept in the house of Pierfrancesco. Until 1743, Botticelli's masterpiece belonged to the Medici family. In 1815 he entered the collection of the famous Uffizi Gallery. However, at that time, the name of Sandro Botticelli was almost forgotten, and no attention was paid to the picture. Only in the second half of the 19th century, the English art critic John Ruskin rediscovered the work of the great Florentine, making it the property of the general public. Today "Spring", along with another Botticelli masterpiece - "The Birth of Venus", is one of the gallery's pearls.
The Renaissance gave mankind canvases of incredible beauty. Moreover, many of them contain hidden symbols and meanings. One of these masterpieces is "Spring" Sandro Botticelli... There is much more hidden in this beautiful picture than it seems. Some of the symbols and allegories of this amazing canvas will be discussed in this review.
Sandro Botticelli wrote Spring ( Primavera) commissioned by Lorenzo Medici. The painting was supposed to be his wedding gift for another of this noble family - the second cousin of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco. The picture became not just an image of one of the favorite mythological subjects at that time, but a philosophical parting word to a future marriage. Almost all elements of "Spring" contain symbols or allegories of one kind or another.
Venus is depicted in the very center of the painting in an orange grove (it was this tree that was the symbol of the Medici family). But this is not a brilliant and fatal goddess, but a modest married woman (which can be understood by her veil). Her right hand is raised in a blessing gesture. When Botticelli passed on his creation to Lorenzo, he focused on the figure of Venus. If he manages to marry such a noble goddess, then his life will be voluptuous and happy.
Three Graces personify the female virtues: Chastity, Beauty and Pleasure. Pearls on their heads symbolize purity. Graces seem to be in one round dance, but their movements are separated. Chastity and Beauty are depicted in the front, and Pleasure is depicted on the back, and her attention is focused on Mercury.
Mercury in mythology personified reason and eloquence. In ancient Rome, the month of May was dedicated to him, named after the mother of the nymph deity Maya. In addition, the wedding of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco was scheduled for this very month.
In order to depict Spring, Botticelli presented three figures. This was a reference to the myth of how the spring wind Zephyr fell in love with the nymph Chloris and thereby turned her into the goddess of flowering Spring. Periwinkle (symbol of fidelity) flies from Chloris's mouth, which becomes a continuation of the next figure. So the artist showed the transformation of a nymph into a goddess. In addition, this composition has become a symbol of the first spring month.
Spring (Flora) appeared in the picture as a young maiden in a dress adorned with flowers. Speaking slowly, she scatters roses (as they did at weddings). The flowers on the dress were also not chosen by chance. Cornflowers are a symbol of friendliness, buttercups are wealth, chamomile is loyalty, and strawberries are tenderness.
Above the head of Venus, her son Cupid is depicted aiming at one of the Graces. His eyes are blindfolded - love is blind. According to one version, Sandro Botticelli portrayed himself in the image of Cupid.
For those who like to look for hidden meaning, they will surely like it.
Among the picturesque masterpieces of which Botticelli's painting "Spring" belongs, it was most clearly manifested in the north of Italy, in large cultural centers - Florence and Venice. It was here that new ideas appeared, based on the wisdom of the ancient Greeks, Plato, Pythagoras, Homer and Virgil, addressed to the earthly world of man, to his spiritual quest (contrary to the scholastic teachings of theologians of the Middle Ages). This was the era of the birth of an amazing phenomenon, later called the Renaissance, or the Renaissance, which determined the development of philosophy, literature, painting and sculpture for several centuries ahead.
Sandro Botticelli was born in 1444 (1445) in Florence, where he lived all his life, according to some sources, the date of death refers to 1510, according to others - to 1515. His real surname was Filipepi, and Botticelli was the name of the jeweler for whom the future artist worked as an apprentice. Florence at that time was the center of new ideas, and Botticelli, as the greatest artist, could not stand aside, embodying the new philosophy of the early Renaissance in his amazingly beautiful and touching canvases.
Botticelli's painting "Spring" was painted in 1477 (1478) on wood in oil and tempera. It is known that one of the Medici ordered it as a wedding.Then the mention of it as part of the decoration of the Medici palace is found in 1638. And since 1815, the painting "Spring" by Botticelli has been one of the most valuable exhibits in the collection of paintings in Florence.
The plot of the picture is deeply mythological, in each of its characters, in each pictorial element, one of the fundamental ideas of the Renaissance is encrypted - everything on Earth is subordinated to love, which has a divine origin and is the source of earthly rebirth, a symbol of spring. Compositionally, the canvas is divided into three parts. The central image is occupied by the image of Venus - the goddess of love, blessing everything that happens around. Above her, a constant companion soars - a blindfolded Cupid with a bow and arrow. On the left side of the canvas is depicted the mythological hero Mercury - the messenger of the gods, the teacher of wisdom, There are also three graces - the retinue - circling in a dance. Holding hands tightly and creating an inextricable bond, they personify beauty, chastity and bliss - that which accompanies love in its highest manifestations.
On the right, Botticelli's painting "Spring" depicts a plot from the myth of the wind Zephyr and the nymph Chloris, whom he kidnapped and made his wife. The love awakened in Chloris turned her into the goddess of Spring, showering the earth with flowers. She is painted here, next to the figures of Zephyr and Chloris, in colorful clothes with bright cornflowers, symbolizing good nature, with wreaths around her neck and head, in which chamomiles and buttercups are woven - signs of loyalty and wealth.
The amazing coloring of Sandro Botticelli's work "Spring" is as if woven from fragrant flowers, which her heroine generously showered the earth with. Against a dark background, the light figures of the characters in delicate flowing clothes look especially attractive, their faces and appearance, despite their divine affiliation, are very earthly, touching. Botticelli's painting "Spring" is still one of the most amazing works of painting not only of the Renaissance, but of all subsequent times.
Plot
On one canvas, Botticelli combined storylines taken from Ovid and Lucretius. The first in his poems about the ancient Roman holiday calendar tells the story of Flora - the goddess of spring: once she was a nymph Chlorida, but the god of wind Zephyr fell in love with her and forced her to marry, and in atonement for his passions turned her into a goddess and presented a beautiful garden, which and portrayed the Florentine genius.
Spring, 1482. (wikipedia.org)
From Lucretius, Botticelli borrowed the composition as a whole:
Here is Spring, and Venus is coming, and Venus is winged
The messenger comes in front, and Zephyr follows, in front of them
Flora-mother walks and, scattering flowers on the way,
It fills everything with paints and a sweet smell ...
You need to read the canvas from right to left: Zephyr, Chlorida and Flora symbolize March (it is believed that spring begins with the first breath of Zephyr); Venus with Cupid and Graces - April; Mercury (whose mother is Maya) - May.
Each of the images carries mythological symbolism: the birth of love and life - Flora; girlish friendship - Graces; care and guardianship - Venus; philosophical meditation - Mercury. But collected by Botticelli in one garden (where, by the way, botanists counted at least 130 plant species), they tell us something more.
On his canvas, the artist encoded the philosophy of the Neoplatonists, whose ideas he supported. Love, according to their ideas, is the path from the earthly nature of feeling to the divine. It contains both joy, the fullness of life, and the sadness of knowledge, suffering. Botticelli embodied dialectics through composition. The movement of Venus (which the Neoplatonists identified with humanity, culture and education) is directed from earthly love, personified by Flora, to heavenly love, which is symbolized by Mercury - a guide to reason. His hand next to a fruit hanging from a tree is a motif traditionally associated with the tree of knowledge.
The Christian theme is manifested in the fact that Venus resembles Madonna, who seems to bless everyone. The right side of the picture in this case is seen as an allegory of carnal love, the left - as an allegory of love for one's neighbor, but the highest love in the center is for God. Another version considers the image in the picture as three stages of a journey through earthly paradise: entering the world, traveling through the garden and exodus to heaven.
Context
"Spring" was a wedding gift from Lorenzo Medici to his second cousin Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco Medici, who was about to marry Semiramide Appiani. It was assumed that the canvas will hang over the inlaid sofa-chest - lettuccio. It was not just a gift, but an instruction, a call to humanity as the highest virtue.
By the way, according to one version, Botticelli depicted his contemporaries: Mercury - Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, the central grace looking at him - Semiramis Appiani. Others believe that Mercury is Lorenzo Medici himself, and among the rest of the characters they find his mistresses. It is possible that Botticelli portrayed himself in the image of Cupid.
Portrait of Lorenzo Medici by G. Vasari. (wikipedia.org)
The canvas was painted shortly after the beloved Simonetta Vespucci, the beloved of Lorenzo Giuliano Medici's brother, died. Venus resembles her face.
The painting was in the house of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco until it was transported to Castello in 1537. The Medici owned the canvas until the extinction of the family in 1743. In 1815, the masterpiece ended up in the Uffizi storerooms, but then experts rated it as a checkpoint and did not pay much attention. Only a century later, fame and glory came to the picture. Now it is one of the main masterpieces of the Uffizi.
The fate of the artist
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi is actually the name of the person we know by the name of Botticelli. This nickname passed to him from his older brother Giovanni, who for his obesity was called "botticelli", that is, a barrel.
Botticelli. (wikipedia.org)
Having started to study painting rather late, he, who had a subtle perception and a keen eye, quickly caught up with his peers in the workshop. By the way, among his, so to speak, classmates was Leonardo da Vinci.
Botticelli masterfully mastered the brush and, interpreting classical subjects, was able to bring dynamics and freshness to them. Pope Six IV, who appreciated the outstanding young man, invited him to paint the Sistine Chapel. Today, three frescoes by Botticelli can be seen there.
Returning from Rome to Florence, the artist never left his hometown again. He had neither a wife nor children. The love of his whole life was the arts. And Botticelli's muse was the beautiful Genoese Simonetta Vespucci, who, having married a Florentine, ended up in the capital of the Italian Renaissance. The girl died at 23, Botticelli carried her memory through her whole life: one way or another, in every female image in his paintings we find the features of Simonetta.
The turning point in the painter's life occurred after the execution of Girolamo Savonarola, who for a short period of time seized power in the city. He demanded asceticism from the flock, offered to publicly burn books and luxury goods. And the aristocracy listened to him. Botticelli also followed his advice. True, the Florentines soon got tired of suffering and repenting, accused Savonarola of heresy and sent him to the stake.
These events undermined the spirit of Botticelli, who was already elderly and suffering from a disease of the legs. In recent years he lived in seclusion in his workshop and hardly worked. The artist died in 1510.
"Spring" was in the Medici Villa Castello. In 1477 the Castello estate was acquired by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco Medici, second cousin of the famous Lorenzo the Magnificent... That is why it was long believed that "Primavera" ("Spring") was written by Botticelli for the fourteen-year-old Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, at the time of the purchase of the villa. But the inventory from 1499, found only in 1975, listing the property of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco and his brother Giovanni, states that in the 15th century Primavera was exhibited in the city palace of Florence. The painting adorned the entrance hall of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco's room located there.
Sandro Botticelli. Spring. OK. 1482
Pictures of such a large size were not new for the mansions of dignitaries. "Spring" by Botticelli, however, is specific in that it is one of the first surviving paintings of the post-antique period, in which the ancient gods are depicted almost naked and in full size. Some of them are copied from ancient sculptures, but not as direct copies, but transformed according to the special artistic canons of Botticelli himself. The slender bodies of the figures of "Spring" look a little elongated, and the domed bellies of women correspond to the then ideal of beauty.
In the center of "Spring", slightly behind the other figures, stands the goddess, the mistress of the garden of love. Above her, Cupid aims one of his arrows of love at the three graces, friends of Venus, elegantly dancing rondo. The Garden of Venus is guarded by Mercury on the left. His light, fiery red cloak, helmet on his head, and sword on his side emphasize his role as keeper of the garden. The messenger of the gods of Mercury can also be recognized by the winged sandals and caduceus staff, with which he drives two snakes away from each other in order to reconcile them. Botticelli portrayed the serpent in the form of winged dragons. On the right, the wind god Zephyr is vigorously pursuing the nymph Chlorida. Next to her is the goddess of spring, scattering flowers on the way.
Botticelli. Spring. Mercury and Graces
There are various interpretations of this scene. But, whichever of them is true, there is a deeply humanistic nature of painting, reflecting the cultural trends of that time.
One of the sources of the scene depicting "Spring" by Botticelli is the Fasts of Ovid - poetic descriptions of the ancient Roman holiday calendar. In the poems that Ovid attributes to the month of May, the goddess Flora tells that she was once the nymph Chlorida, and, as now, breathed in the scent of flowers. The wind god Zephyr, excited by the beauty of Chlorida, to a riot, began to persecute her and forcibly made her his wife. Then repented of his violence, he turned the nymph Chlorida into the goddess Flora and gave her a beautiful garden where eternal spring reigns.
I'm called Flora, and I was Chloride ...
Somehow in the spring I caught the eye of Zephyr; I left
He flew after me: he was stronger than me ...
Yet Zephyr justified violence by making me a wife,
And I never complain about my marriage.
Eternal I bask in spring, spring is the best time:
All the trees are green, the earth is all green.
A prolific garden blooms in the fields, my dowry given ...
My husband adorned my garden with a beautiful floral dress,
So saying to me: "Forever be you the goddess of flowers!"
"Spring" by Botticelli simultaneously depicts two different moments in Ovid's story: Zephyr's love desire for Chloride and her subsequent transformation into Flora. This is why the clothes of these two women, who do not seem to notice each other, are fluttering in different directions. Flora stands next to Venus and scatters roses, flowers of the goddess of love.
Botticelli. Spring. Chloride and Flora
The ancient Roman classic Lucretius in his philosophical and didactic poem "On the Nature of Things" glorifies both of these goddesses in one scene of Spring. In the passage of Lucretius, other characters in "Spring" by Botticelli are also mentioned. He was probably another major literary source for the painting:
Here is Spring, and Venus is coming, and Venus is winged
The messenger comes in front, and, Zephyr follows, in front of them
Flora-mother walks and, scattering flowers on the way,
It fills everything with paints and a sweet smell ...
The divine spring garden with hundreds of plant species blooming in April and May belongs to Venus, the goddess of love. Behind Venus, Botticelli depicted myrtle, one of her symbols. Venus raised her hand in greeting to those who admire her spring kingdom. Above the head of Venus, Botticelli placed her son, Cupid, who, blindfolded, shoots arrows of love.
Botticelli. Spring. Venus
Botticelli. Spring. Chloride and Marshmallow
Botticelli. Spring. Flora