"Spring" Botticelli. Main characters and symbols
Few people knew about Botticelli's "Spring" for ... 450 years!
At first it was kept by the descendants of the Medici. Then I went to the Uffizi Gallery. But ... You won't believe it - it has lain in storerooms for 100 years!
And only at the beginning of the 20th century it was put on public display due to the fact that a famous art critic saw it. It was the beginning of glory.
Now it is one of the main masterpieces of the Uffizi Gallery. And one of the most famous paintings Renaissance.
But "reading" it is not so easy. It seems to be about spring. But there are a lot of characters here.
Why are there so many? Why didn't Botticelli depict one girl as Spring?
Try to understand.
In order to read the picture, divide it mentally into three parts:
The right part consists of three heroes who personify the first spring month of MARCH.
1. ZEFIR
The god of the west wind Zephyr begins to blow at the very beginning of spring. With him, the reading of the picture begins.
Of all the heroes, he is the most unsightly in appearance. Blueish skin tone. Cheeks are about to burst from the tension.
But this is understandable. This wind for the ancient Greeks was unpleasant. Often brought rain and even storms.
As with people, so with divine creatures, he did not stand on ceremony. He fell in love with the nymph Chlorida, and she had no chance to escape from Zephyr.
2. CHLORIDE
Zephyr forced this gentle creature in charge of flowers to become his wife. And in order to somehow compensate for her moral experiences, he made a real Goddess out of a nymph. So Chloride turned into Flora.
3. FLORA
Flora (nee - Chlorida) did not regret marriage. Although Zephyr took her as his wife against his will. Apparently the girl was mercantile. After all, she became much more powerful. Now she was responsible not only for flowers, but in general for all vegetation on Earth.
Look for the answer in the article “Leonardo da Vinci and his Mona Lisa. The mystery of the Gioconda, about which little is said.
site “Diary of painting. In each picture there is a story, a fate, a mystery.”
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The following five heroes make up the APRIL group. These are Venus, Cupid and the three Graces.
4. VENUS
The goddess Venus is responsible not only for love, but also for fertility and prosperity. So she's not just here. And the ancient Romans celebrated a holiday in her honor just in April.
5. AMUR
Son of Venus and her constant companion. Everyone knows that this unbearable boy is especially active in the spring. And shoots his arrows left and right. Of course, without even seeing who is going to hit. Love is blind, because Cupid is blindfolded.
6. GRACE
And Cupid will most likely fall into one of the Graces. Which has already looked at the young man on the left.
Botticelli depicted three sisters holding each other's hands. They represent the beginning of life, beautiful and tender due to their youth. And they also often accompany Venus, helping to spread her precepts to all people.
"MAY" is represented by only one figure. But what!
7. MERCURY
Mercury, the god of trade, disperses the clouds with his rod. Well, not a bad help to Spring. He is related to her through his mother, the Maya galaxy.
It was in her honor that the ancient Romans gave the name "May" to the month. Maya herself was sacrificed on May 1st. The fact is that she was responsible for the fruitfulness of the earth. And without it, in any way in the coming summer.
Why, then, did Botticelli portray her son, and not Maya herself? By the way, she was charming - the eldest and most beautiful of the 10 galaxy sisters.
I like the version that Botticelli really wanted to portray men at the beginning and end of this spring series.
Still, spring is the birth of life. And without men in this process in any way (at least in the time of the artist). After all, it was not for nothing that he depicted all women as pregnant. Laying fertility in the spring is very important.
In general, Botticelli's "Spring" is completely saturated with symbols of fertility. Above the heads of the heroes is an orange tree. It blooms and bears fruit at the same time. Not only in the picture: it actually can.
And what is the cost of a carpet of five hundred real-life flowers! It's just a flower encyclopedia of some kind. It remains only to sign the names in Latin.
The heroes did a good job - where they step, there is more than enough fertility!
But the very beauty of the characters (not counting the Zephyr) is very suitable for the theme of Spring.
Botticelli, as always, was able to portray the beauty that never goes out of fashion. His characters are so beautiful that it makes no sense to wonder why we like "Spring" so much.
So the artist was not looking for easy ways. It was not enough for him to portray a single beauty and call her "Spring".
He “sang” a whole ode to this time of the year. Complex, multifaceted, extraordinarily beautiful.
Read about another masterpiece of the master in the article "Birth of Venus. The Secret of Divine Beauty".
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