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astroneatly's review
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
Botticelli means ‘little barrel’, though to say the artist was little would be heresy. His depiction of mythology, everything from Boccaccio to Ovid and altar pieces are larger than life… They come from a third realm, possibly evoking apocalyptic where expertise in one’s craft evokes this redolent sarcasm that bleeds elegance. In 1470, Sandro Botticelli was declared a master painter- and having that kind of notoriety in Florence imposed the monolithic task of altarpieces for the Sistine Chapel.
Marriage paintings were a tradition in Medieval Italy… So when Botticelli commemorates the union between Lorenzo il Magnifico and Semirade Appiani in Primavera, an outstanding allusion to Ovid’s Fasti. First, Venus in the center just below her son Amor, is surrounded by boughs of Myrtle. The goddess of flowers of fertility, Flora, has been raped by Zephyr after her metamorphosis from the nymph Chloris, “she was transformed by the touch of the warm spring breeze in the form of the wind god Zephyr.” The subject of this painting is male dominance, however, in Camilla and the Centaur, the theme of female dominance is represented by a centaur that has been subdued by virtue, though, “This suggests that female dominance is not exercised by physical strength.”
The tale of Nastagio degli Onesti from Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron was depicted in four spalliera paintings, all of which emphasize violence against women. Brutal??? the way the story is told, with a cursed Guido Anastagio, condemned to murder the same woman every friday at noon.
One of my favorites is Venus and Mars. Venus of course is the husband of the tyrant Vulcan, who is caught with her lover Mars, surrounded by 4 little satyrs carrying the accoutrements of war. Mars of course is resting. Venus of course has been adorned by myrtle twigs, though in “Arrival of Venus”, we meet Zephyr and Flora again, and Hora of summer, has been showered Venus in daisies.
“For you alone [Venus] have the influence to obtain for mortals the blessing of tranquil peace, since barbarous war is the province of Mars might in arms who often stretches himself back upon your lap, vanquished by the never-healing wound if love; throwing back his handsome neck and gazing up at you in, in open-mouthed wonderment he feasts his greedy eyes with love; and as he reclines, his breath hangs upon your lips.”
Marriage paintings were a tradition in Medieval Italy… So when Botticelli commemorates the union between Lorenzo il Magnifico and Semirade Appiani in Primavera, an outstanding allusion to Ovid’s Fasti. First, Venus in the center just below her son Amor, is surrounded by boughs of Myrtle. The goddess of flowers of fertility, Flora, has been raped by Zephyr after her metamorphosis from the nymph Chloris, “she was transformed by the touch of the warm spring breeze in the form of the wind god Zephyr.” The subject of this painting is male dominance, however, in Camilla and the Centaur, the theme of female dominance is represented by a centaur that has been subdued by virtue, though, “This suggests that female dominance is not exercised by physical strength.”
The tale of Nastagio degli Onesti from Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron was depicted in four spalliera paintings, all of which emphasize violence against women. Brutal??? the way the story is told, with a cursed Guido Anastagio, condemned to murder the same woman every friday at noon.
One of my favorites is Venus and Mars. Venus of course is the husband of the tyrant Vulcan, who is caught with her lover Mars, surrounded by 4 little satyrs carrying the accoutrements of war. Mars of course is resting. Venus of course has been adorned by myrtle twigs, though in “Arrival of Venus”, we meet Zephyr and Flora again, and Hora of summer, has been showered Venus in daisies.
“For you alone [Venus] have the influence to obtain for mortals the blessing of tranquil peace, since barbarous war is the province of Mars might in arms who often stretches himself back upon your lap, vanquished by the never-healing wound if love; throwing back his handsome neck and gazing up at you in, in open-mouthed wonderment he feasts his greedy eyes with love; and as he reclines, his breath hangs upon your lips.”
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