The birth of venus

The Birth of Venus

Zephyrus Nymph

Flora Venus

In this composition there are four figures; Zephyrus and Nymph on the left hand side of the painting, Venus in the middle and Flora on the right.

Furthermore, two of the figures Venus and Flora have very blank expressions on their faces, this could be due to the fact that Venus is nude. It insinuates Venus is trying to cover herself as well as Flora who is reaching across with a blanket, this could be because nudity was hardly seen before the renaissance of classical art.

Botticelli may have held himself back from painting Venus fully nude although it was accepted in Florence (Italy) more than other places due to the fact it was a republic.

The background of the painting has very little texture, apart from the repetitive pattern of the waves that are subtly included at the bottom, they appear to make the sea look calm.

The dark to light creates a smooth tone exaggerating the figures appearances I believe Botticelli has done this to draw more attention to the figures especially on Venus to make her stand out.

In this painting the materials Botticelli used are egg yolk (also known as tempra), Gold and alabasta power.

Venus’ nudity represents new life (birth). She is the” Greek Goddess of. love” her title leads to a number of things… love, beauty, sex/fertility, prosperity and as a mother figure.

The painting is on a large scale canvas rather then panel, it looks a little fresco.

Venus The position Venus is stood in is known as “contrapposto position” (taken from classical statues).

Venus holds her hands in the “Venus Pjknvkas” position this was first used in the famous statue of Aphrodite of Chidos by the Greek sculptor Praxiteles. This position is made to make the figure seem alive, dynamic; as if it’s about to move.

A man called Plato who was a Greek Philosopher, believed Venus had two aspects: Firstly, she was a goddess who encouraged physical love.

Secondly, a heavenly goddess who inspired intellectual love.

“Contemplation of physical beauty allowed the mind to better understand spiritual beauty.” This quote along with the painting made many people that looked at Venus the most beautiful goddess, turn their faith into God.

From the book “Great Paintings” by “Howard Pickersgill” includes a painting of Venus created by the artist Tiziano vecelli or titian, who was a well-known Italian artist during the renaissance artist he received commissions from several Italian rulers such as the Duke and Duchess of Urbino. Titian completed the painting Venus which is now located in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh. It states that “it is interesting to contrast this interpretation of Venus rising from the sea with that by Botticelli. In this case, the symbolic shell seems to be included merely as a gesture too tradition.

Titian is more concerned to use a device for the pictorial expression of his delight in, and ability to portray, the female form and to do so with marvellously disciplined sensuousness.”

Inspiration for Venus Venus was based on Aphrodite. Simonetta Catteneo de Vespucci was the face Botticelli based Venus on. Simonetta’s face as personified the Italian renaissance concept of ideal beauty.

“Beauty equals morality, beauty equals purity”. Venus’ Proportions are seen as the ‘ideal’ body. The basic proportions of the figure came from the classical canon of beauty; equal distance between breasts, between navel and breasts and navel and crotch.

The Myth that lead to the Inspiration.

The story all begins with Uranus (the first ruler) and Cronus, Cronus is Uranus’ offspring.

Cronus and Uranus were fighting, which then lead Cronus to castrate his father‌ Cronus threw the body part into the ocean, the sea started to churn and foam.

Aphrodite rose up from the aphros; the sea carried her to Cythera (she was born with a rose whoch now symbolises a token of love).

Aphrodite had no childhood, she was born fully mature. Her beauty was so over whelming it caused violence amongst the other Gods.

Praxiteles Praxiteles was the first to sculpture a life sized representation of a nude female (Aphrodite) he also created another version; draped and slightly covering herself.

It was the citizens of Koz, but they rejected the nude statue and brought draped version.

Praxiteles is one of the most celebrated of attic sculptors, he was from Athens and his father was believed to be another sculptor. He was highly influenced in the development of Greek sculpture, bringing elegance and grace to his work.

The Renaissance From the 1400-1600 (centuries) was the ‘renaissance’ of classical art (re- birth) as well as science, geometry and literature. The art form in this time period was very distinctive.

Florence, Italy was often seen as the cradle of the renaissance, in the early 15th century it was home to a number of great artists who overthrew new styles and techniques, paintings and sculptures became ‘realistic’. Christianity and religious subjects however, remained strong still being the most common themes in art.

Throughout the 15th century schools thrived in Florence, this was Italy’s most advanced and high– yielding location along with Mantua, Milan and Padua.

Due to the fact Florence was a republic this meant wealth and rivalry was increasing. They also had a lot more freedom which explains why nudity was accepted quickly compared to other cities and countries.

The renaissance spread across Europe but not everyone experienced the full changes.

During the ‘renaissance’ the basic proportions of a figure came from classical canon (general principles) of beauty, as well as point perspective that was created along with humanism (human perspective).

Tempera paint was used up until the late 15th century, it was replaced by oils; instead of mixing the powdered pigments with egg yolk it was mixed with linseed oil instead. Oils were preferred as they were slower drying this meant greater detail could Some suggest that the Renaissance represented a complete break with the Middle Ages or was the re-birth of modern man John R. Hale who wrote the book Great Ages of Man. Renaissance suggested that the renaissance changed our structure in life “Human nature does not change much. Men have always liked food and warmth, raised families, felt happier when the sun shone then when it rained, wanted peace and fought wars, created delicate work of art and committed violent crimes. Yet there have been periods in history when men thought that the lives they lived and the ideas they held made their age strikingly different from the one before it. Of all such ages the Italian Renaissance is perhaps the most famous. The men of the Renaissance thought of their time as one in which mankind changed fundamentally.” (J Hale, 1968) The Three Graces The three Graces painting (ancient Goddesses) were originally painting fully nude, life like and idealized human beauty. However, during the Middle Ages nobody admired “human form” anymore so the painting was recreated; flat and bodiless.

Verdure, Gladness and Splendour were the names given to “The Three Graces”. On the left hand side the figures are dancing in a sinuous (curves and turns) style. It was painted in the first century AD; fresco style. On the other hand, to the right the medieval figures were inscribed with verses in Latin, they are all hiding a blanket; covering their bodies. This piece was in a Tuscan manuscript.

Ancient Goddesses

Medieval Figures

In the 1478 Botticelli painted his own version of “The Three Graces” this was one of the first nude paintings during the renaissance people compared it the piece and say he ‘restored’ them. The figures were joyful and once again seemed lively and full of beauty.

The three graces are included in the painting “The Primavera”. The material Botticelli has used is Tempera on panel and is over 6 feet high.

Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli (meaning small wine cask) was a well-known early Renaissance artist.

He is originally from Florence (Italy) he started to develop an artistic talent from an early age; when he was 15 Botticelli had his own workshop, this helped him develop his talent and find a ‘style’.

Moreover, in his middle years he went to Rome giving him lots of inspiration for his future compositions. Botticelli’s paintings were highly esteemed for about a quarter of his life.

Botticelli completed “The Birth of Venus” painting during the Renaissance of classical art, because Botticelli’s location (Florence) they were more accepting of the nude painting.

His main style is oil painting (tempera), from this he also became one of the most acclaimed painter in Italy; mainly focusing on beauty and elegance in his work.

POSSIBLE PATRONS

This composition “Calumny of Apelles” was painted in 1494, Tempera on panel 62cm, 91cm. The painting displays a Judge hearing a case, each person represents a feeling or emotion.

Ignorance and suspicion, Envy, intrigued and fraud.

Botticelli is a big inspiration for me I respect him for his work and the time and effort he put in to his pieces. The way he creates humanistic features and include a massive amount of depth and detail.

Plato Plato was a Greek philosopher, mathematician and student of Socrates (another Athenian philosopher).

Plato looked at ‘ideal beauty’ he believed beauty is not in art but it has its own existence separate from the actual art/object that appears in our eyes to express it.

An Italian painter; from the 16th century called Anton Raphael was a high Renaissance artist he completed a painting called “The School of Athens” within this painting he included Plato.

Plato believed true art to be ‘most divine’ so Raphael painted him pointing upwards.

Plato is mainly focused on in the painting ‘School of Athens’ as he is positioned in the centre of the piece.

The materials used were oil and painted onto a canvas. He created “The school of Athens” for Pope Julius II, Raphael was in close contact with the Pope and did many paintings for him such as a fine portrait (that is now in the National Gallery, London).

Plato created a piece of art known as “The Cave” (found in the book VII of Republic), this piece portrays an allegory (hidden meaning).

This part of the painting shows prisoners sat with their backs against the cave’s entrance, with nothing else to look at other than the caves wall in front of them, but are able to watch the shadows from the puppet showmen performing.

The prisoners only see a copy of the real world as their view of reality is distorted by watching the shadows of the performers.

Plato believes art can only imitate real beauty.

The cave insinuates an imperfect copy of ideal forms of everything. This is why some people dislike Plato because they feel that arts a false copy of true beauty; becoming morally harmful to youth, so they believed geometrical forms should be based on harmonic proportions and should be purely mathematical.

On the other hand, Plato argues that beauty is harmony and proportion, he thinks that this compliments art, as other artists are able to replicate this within their work.

Moreover, Plato’s allegory of “The Cave” is supported by our time now. This is because prisoners are able to watch T.V and read magazines, creating a surreal world for them, this implies an unreal image of reality for them as actors and models etc… are seen as shadows.

Many people are influenced by the media, this puts a picture into our heads about what we think we should and shouldn’t do i.e. what we wear, what we eat and how we act. T.V and magazines display models that are underweight, for example and 18 year old model ‘Codie Young’ was moved from Topshop website as the audience/campaigners argued it could encourage eating disorders such as anorexia, plastic surgery and Botox etc. An actress called Renee Zellweger had her face changed as she was unhappy this could be due to the fact that we are put under pressure to “look acceptable” she felt she was not good enough so decided to changed what she looked like this relates to the prisoners because as they watch the puppets they create an image in their heads of what they think is right from wrong.

Renee Zellweger Then and Now

I feel Plato’s allegory of “The Cave” is very meaningful as it relates to media/T.V in this generation and generations to come because we are drawn into a surreal understanding of reality because media surrounds us all day every day. It changes our ‘norms’ and ‘values’ in this society just as prisoners views were changed by the shadows.

Sculptures Myron was an ancient Greek sculptor, many saw him as an “all rounded” artist some of his greatest achievements where his sculptures of powerful athletes and life-like animals; this is what he was acclaimed for.

Myron has been referred to as “one of the greatest sculptors of Early Classical Greek Sculpture” (M Buckley, Edge sculptures).

Myron was born in Eleutherae, on the borders of Boeotia and Attica, he then lived the majority of his life in Athens, I he got his inspiration from this for his sculptures of powerful athletes because sport was a big part of Greece in this time period (Discus throwing was the first element in the pentathlon.

The material he used most often was bronze (which is made from copper, tin and various other metals), The original discus thrower Discobulous was made by Myron (his most famous sculpture) in 450 BC, 155cm tall. Discobulous was originally created in bronze, but now only copies from Roman artists exist.

Discobulous is nude and Myron idealised the sculpture I believe that by Myron doing this links back to an unrealistic world as the discus thrower is seen as perfect or better than reality.

Discobulous’ appears dynamic, balanced and harmonious, his body is tense but has a very tranquil face.

His contrived pose shows that the right arm is getting ready to throw the discus and left arm appears to be leaning across to his right leg for support, this is known as rythmos (the “stop action” of a movement that summarises previous action and implies future action.

The nudity of the sculpture makes it appear naturalistic, Bronze is a good choice of material to use for this due to that fact it’s able to capture fine detail. Discobulous’ muscles looked forced/clear this is known as “emphatic”.

Compared to the real life discus thrower on the right Discobulous has an irregular silhouette.

The process that makes a bronze sculpture is known as the “lost wax process” through research I have found out how this works…                       

Firstly, the model is made out of wax.

Secondly, it is then divided into sections.

Each section is placed in a clay bed.

A plaster mould is then built around it.

After the sections of the mould are put back together.

Hot waxed is poured in, to form a thin layer inside the mould (it’s repeated until wax is at the desired thickness.

Sections are joined together to recreate the original wax figure.

A mixture of sand and plaster fills the model, creating a solid core.

Wax rods are then attached, which form channels to carry molten bronze and let gases escape.

The rods are then attached to a wax funnel.

Pins are inserted to hold the plaster core of the model in place.

A plaster mould is created layer by layer around the wax model.

This mould with the model inside is fired in the kiln.

The heat melts the wax, which flows out via the funnel.

All the wax areas are now empty, which means bronze can now be poured, (the core is still held by pins at this point).

The bronze is heated up to about 1,000˚c.

Bronze is then skimmed to remove impurities.

The mould is turned upside down and bronze is poured into a funnel.

The bronze flows through the channels to the figure inside the mould.

When cooled, the mould is opened up.

The figure as well as the channels are now bronzed.

Rods are removed and pin holes are filled in.

Finally, the surface finish (patina) is created using acid and wax.

Bronze is tough and long-lasting so was used to produce tools and weapons. The Greeks decided to use this material when making sculptures, they were able to add in fine, complex detail within a casting mould. Bronze was used throughout the medieval period this changed in the 15th century when they replaced it with marble still using the forms and techniques from ancient Greece and Rome this was deliberately brought back. They chiselled away at the marble, this is known as the reductive process, although Bronze is a lot more sustainable as marble has a low tensile strength.

Discus Thrower Discobulous – British museum London This is a Roman copy of the bronze original Discus thrower of the 5th century BC. It came from Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, Lazio, Italy.

This copy (one of many) is made from marble, the head on this figure compared to the original is different as its head is facing down instead of looking behind him. This is just one of the several copies of the lost bronze original.

“This Roman copy is thought to be marble version of a lost bronze by Myron. A native of Attica, he was famed for his realism and his skill at depicting figures in active poses. Unlike modern athletes, the Greeks did not spin round before hurling the discus. (Andrew GrahamDixon, Art the definitive visual guide)” In our day and age we can like the discus thrower Discobulous to our Athletic life style, some may see it as an inspiration or role model from the history behind it or physique.

It was used as a representation for the Olympic Games poster, I believe this captures interest in the society and makes people realise how famous the statue is it will bring us together with other counties, making us realise that we share the same passion etc.

In ancient Greece was united by religion, sport and culture that were open to ideas and change, this encouraged different debates and theories.

Architecture and art was though highly of, they were interested in human form and looked at it in depth at the uniqueness it had. Human sculptures were very simple and “free standing”.

This statue is a typical example of an ancient Greek sculpture, named Kouros (youth, c. 590-580 BC. The material used was marble.

This sculpture has a archaic smile, and its eyes appear to be open but personally, I don’t feel that the face has been created very well as the representation of human form, it is motionless and has little detail.

The nude sculpture is not supported (free standing) with minimal rythmos (static) due to the fact it has low tensile strength.

The texture on the hair is able to be created because the marble is hard.

This was seen as beauty in ancient Greece.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was an Italian painter, sculptor and architect.

“He was the most sought-after artist in the sixteenth century, and for prosperity the outstanding example of artistic genius. His tumultuous career, with its perpetual struggles and its passionate commitment to art, was to become the master pattern for the Romantic artist”. (D Piper, The illustrated history of art) “At the age of 13, Michelangelo was apprenticed as a painter for Domenico Ghirlandaio in Florence”. (D Piper, The illustrated history of art) From this piece of evidence we learn that Michelangelo is a man of many talents and stretches his talent further other than just sculptures. In 1530 he created a piece known as “Study for Leda”.

D Piper states that “The subject, the rape of Leda by Jupiter as a swan, could not be more sensual; and yet the head is so pure.

He has used is red chalk in this piece. Personally I feel the material used is very effective, it makes the audience become draw to the simple, idealised and calming appearance due to the fact it’s in an unusual colour; creating a crisp tone. The fall of light on her face makes the picture appear dignified.

David, one of Michelangelo’s most famous statues was created in 1504.

This was created 2000 years after the creation of the Greek marble sculpture Discobulous the Renaissance brought in a new style. The material used was still marble but the postures and positions the statues stood in where changed due to the time era (renaissance).

The marble block Michelangelo used was originally used for a statue to be carved but another sculptor in 1464, but the block he used was not fully carved.

David and Goliath The Philistine (hostile or indifferent) army had gathered for war against Israel. A Philistine army has a giant named Goliath of their side he was over nine feet tall and wearing full armour. For forty days, Israelites sent someone to fight but could not concur the giant. Goliath was feared by many, Although, a young boy (teenager) named David (the youngest son of Jesse), was sent to the battle lines by his father to bring back news of his brothers. When he was there David heard Goliath shouting his daily defiance and he witnessed the fear of the men of Israel as the giant called.

David was a strong believer in God; he responded to Goliaths call and volunteered to fight him.

King Saul was uncertain at first but agreed to let David fight against the giant.

David wore nothing other than a simple tunic, and carried a shepherd's staff, sling and a pouch full of stones, as David approached Goliath the giant cursed at him, hurling threats and insults.

David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied ... today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air ... and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel ... it is not by sword or spear

David,

that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you 1504

into our hands." (David and Goliath – Bible story summary)

Marble Height – Larger than life size Academia, Florence

Goliath stepped forward with intensions to kill David. David threw a stone at into his head (perhaps as a distraction?). The giant had a hole in his armour, the stone hit the giant’s forehead and he fell to the ground. David got Goliath's sword, killed him and then cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that he was dead, they ran away. The Israelites then chased and killed them.

This narrative was important for Florence because it gave them a lot of inspiration; restoring the peoples face in God. Giving them faith and can come challenges.

A man named Donatello (1386-1466) was an Italian Sculptor from Florence “summing up the life and work of Donatello a hundred years later, Vasari tells us that Donatello the spirit of Michelangelo”. (D Piper, the Illustrated History of Art) Donatello created a life sized (191 cm high), marble, David in 1409.

Goliaths head, cut off by David Left arm tense but the rest of the body appears relaxed.

He is fully clothed, dressed in a classic roman style outfit.

This Sculpture David is different compared to Michelangelo’s. It had slimmer proportions, with a young face. He is standing in an elegant pose. I believe that the statue has a very heroic look; proud. The weight on the right leg and left arm stiff on his hip implies he is victorious.

Moreover, in c 1440 Donatello created yet another sculpture but in bronze (height 158 cm).

This sculpture is mostly nude. Its posture, etc. is the similar compared Donatello’s David in 1409 (youthful and athletic).

The bronze creates a very smooth finish, I feel this makes the sculpture look elegant. He leans on his sword suggesting he has power (this is only possible due to the tensile strength of bronze) the sharp detail adds to realism.

The sculpture was made for the Medici family, it stood on an ornamental pedestal in the center of The courtyard.