Sunday, 7 November 2010
Artwork of the day
The painting with the many interpretations is Botticelli's most famous work (along with the Birth of Venus). A series of scholars have presented different –and often conflicting- interpretations of what it actually represents, for whom it was created, where it was placed and even when it was made.
What is generally agreed is that this is a secular painting based on ancient classical mythology. The most widely accepted view suggests that the central figure depicts Venus in her garden having to her right the Three Graces and Mercury and to her left the scene of the raping of Chloris by Zephyrus and the transformation of Chloris to Flora. Above Venus’s head stands her son, Cupid.