Zoe Dawson - Visual Art
In
Florence
during
the
1470s
and
80s,
it
was
not
unusual
for
intellectuals
and
artists
to
meet
to
discuss
topics
such
as
history,
philosophy,
literature
and
art.
It
is
suggested
that
daily,
Lorenzo
the
Magnificent
organized
such
meetings,
in
which
the
group
interpreted
the
works
of
Virgil,
Homer
and
Hesiod.
[16]
Ideas
were
formed,
and
then
realised
by
the
artists,
goldsmiths
and
musicians.
The
Birth
of
Venus
was
one
of
the
works
that
followed
this
routine.
Lorenzo
de
Medici
introduced
the
theme
of
the
birth
of
Venus
with
verses
from
an
ode
by
Hesiod.
Angelo
Poliziano,
known
as
one
of
Lorenzo’s
favourite
humanist
poets,
wrote
the
story
in
verse,
and
later,
Botticelli
translated
the
poem
into
the
painting,
The
Birth
of
Venus.
[Ibid]
Botticelli,
when
creating
the
painting,
therefore
had
a
narrative
to
follow,
which
will
have
had
a
large
impact
on
the
way
that
it
was
conceived
and
painted.
The
pictorial
space
of
the
painting
was
important
in
telling
the
narrative.
The
poem
[appendix
6]
says,
“A
young
woman
with
nonhuman
countenance,
is
carried
on
a
conch
shell,
wafted
to
shore
by
playful
Zephyrus.” [17]
This
quotation
tells
us
that
the
God
of
the
west
wind,
Zephyrus,
should
be
set
behind
Venus,
blowing
her
to
shore.
However,
Venus
is
fundamentally
the
same
size
as
Zephyrus
and
his
nymph
Chloris.
Also
“she
was
received
in
the
bosom
of
the
three
nymphs
and
cloaked
in
a
starry
garment” [ibid]
suggests
that
the
nymph
Pamona,
welcoming
Venus
to
the
shore,
should
be
stood
in
front
of
her,
receiving
her.
This
would
make
Zephyrus
and
Chloris
in
the
background
of
the
painting,
Venus
in
the
mid-‐ground,
and
Pamona
in
the
foreground.
However,
all
three
are
placed
in
the
foreground
of
the
painting.
This,
and
much
of
the
background
of
the
painting,
is
not
in
tune
with
the
general
rules
of
linear
perspective
either.
The
waves,
if
restricted
to
the
universal
rules
of
perspective,
would
diminish
from
the
foreground
to
background,
however
they
are
all
roughly
the
same
size.
The
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