Revival of Interest in Classical Themes


	Revival of Interest in Classical Themes (Greek and Roman)

Botticelli
Birth of Venus
after 1482

Botticelli was associated with the Platonic Academy supported by the Medicis. These philosophers were interested in integrating classical and Christian "truth." Botticelli was one of the first Renaissance artists to introduce classical themes. Here the pagan goddess Venus is associated with the Virgin Mary, since she too was divinely impregnated.

Botticelli
Primavera
about 1478

Here, too, Venus is associated with the Virgin. Cupid, her divine male child, represents Love. She presides over the rites of Spring. The west wind, Zephyrus, on the right is associated with spring, and Flora spreads flowers. The Three Graces on the left are also associated with Venus.

All images marked ^MAS were photographed on location by Mary Ann Sullivan. All other images were scanned from other sources or downloaded from the World Wide Web; they are posted on this password-protected site for educational purposes, at Bluffton College only, under the "fair use" clause of U.S. copyright law.

Page maintained by Gerald W. Schlabach, gws@bluffton.edu. Last updated: 19 April 1999.

	Botticelli Birth of Venus after 1482
	Botticelli was associated with the Platonic Academy supported by the Medicis. These philosophers were interested in integrating classical and Christian "truth." Botticelli was one of the first Renaissance artists to introduce classical themes. Here the pagan goddess Venus is associated with the Virgin Mary, since she too was divinely impregnated.
	Botticelli Primavera about 1478
	Here, too, Venus is associated with the Virgin. Cupid, her divine male child, represents Love. She presides over the rites of Spring. The west wind, Zephyrus, on the right is associated with spring, and Flora spreads flowers. The Three Graces on the left are also associated with Venus.

Revival of Interest in Classical Themes(Greek and Roman)

Revival of Interest in Classical Themes
(Greek and Roman)