Analysis of Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera

Your Student Number Analysis of Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera It is seen in the middle arch, under the tiny blindfolded cupid, towards the off center area of the artwork the image of the Goddess of love: Venus (Barolsky, 2000). The artwork shows greatly the aesthetic appeal and the creative heritage of Sandro Botticelli’s poetic art called Primavera (Figure 1). Added by Barolsky (2000), the aesthetic poetry of the painting is the reflection of love described in the translation of earlier works about love poetry. The effects of this love poetry had a huge impact about the painter’s self-consciousness and expertly recorded his experience of love through this painting as a transformative poetic expression (Barolsky, 1994); however, at a clearer observation of the visual aspect of the painting, it shows a more vivid representation of the transformative characteristics of spring and fertility towards a more symbolic interpretation about the different kinds of love. Visual description In the painting, the goddess was surrounded by different characters like a prince and maidens. According to Rubinstein (1997), the characters in the painting in Primavera depicts the chronology of a mythological scene, starting from the far right includes a gloomy blue winged spirit figure called Zephyrus, the personification of the west wind, kidnapping a nymph called Chloris while holding the character next to them called Flora, the goddess of flowers, looking towards the viewer of the painting. On the left of the painting is a group of females with joined hands while dancing are called the three graces. And, at the extreme left is Mercury turning his back to the other characters wearing red drapes armed with a sword while raising his hand pointing towards the groves of oranges. However, according to Kline (2011), "the Primavera will not be understood by first naming its central figure, but rather through a new reading of the other figures in the painted scene and of the event that brings them together." The Primavera needs to be read in accordance to the story that links the characters together. According to the myth as described by Zirpolo (1992), Zephyrus chased down Chloris where as a result of his startled pursuit Chloris expelled a string of flowers in her mouth and transformed into another maiden called Flora whose garment is decorated mainly of dark flowers. According to Kline (2011), Chlori was raped by Zephyrus in spring but don’t really emphasize the advent of spring. Some colored flowers from her dress matched those flowers seen on the ground scattered directly towards the central position direction of Venus that is standing on a higher ground compared to the other characters. Venus is seen with red drapes and bluish clothing where broken arches behind her draw the glimpse of the eyes towards the goddess. After seeing Venus, the viewer’s eyes will next see the figure above the goddess, cupid, which is according to the myth, is the son of Mercury and Venus (Zirpolo, 1992). Cupid is blindfolded and pointing his stretched bow and flaming arrow towards the three graces. The three graces are the handmaidens that accompanied the goddess during her endeavors. The graces were artfully displayed as happily rotating as seem from their dance showing a depiction of their figure from different angles like connecting pieces of the whole image of the individual graces. These compositional conjunctions, as described by Barolsky (2000), seemingly increase as the painting is thoroughly observed. Barolsky (2000) added that the dress of Chlori is visually similar to the dress of the graces on the other side of the painting showing a visual symmetry in colors. Also, the depicted movements of Flora's feet were also reciprocated by the dancing movement of the other graces feet. The graces have raised hands the visually symmetrical to the position of Mercury at the far left side of the painting; but Mercury stand farther apart than the location of the graces while pointing the abundant orange fruits of the tree canopies. Though Mercury is more isolated his bent arm tangentially points at the back of one of the graces showing a slightly conjoining view of the character. This scene shows how a viewer should start to read the visual aesthetic of the painting in order to harmonize the impression of a scattered character placing but is actually connected. Visual analysis The primavera is represents transformation and metamorphosis and a symbolic portrayal of the different kinds of love. According to Lukasik and Marzec (2017), the evolutionary purpose of love is to create a strong connection between couples to leave behind progeny. The stronger the bond the more offspring the parents will have. According to John Lee (as cited by...