20 August 2010

Christoph from Dortmund (Germany) sent me this beautiful postcard with a fragment of Sandro Botticelli's "Primavera" ("The Spring").  

Wiki says:
"Primavera", also known as "Allegory of Spring", is a tempera panel painting by Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli (c.1445-1510).
Various interpretations of the figures have been set forth, but it is generally agreed that at least at one level the painting is, as characterized by Cunningham and Reich, "an elaborate mythological allegory of the burgeoning fertility of the world". Elena Capretti in "Botticelli" (2002) suggests that the typical interpretation is thus:
The reading of the picture is from right to left: Zephyrus, the biting wind of March, kidnaps and possesses the nymph Chloris, whom he later marries and transforms into a deity; she becomes the goddess of Spring, eternal bearer of life, and is scattering roses on the ground.
Venus presides over the garden, the Graces accompanying her, while Mercury's caduceus keeps the garden safe from threatening clouds. The basic identifications of characters is widely embraced, but other names are sometimes used for the females on the right. According to "Botticelli" (1901), the woman in the flowered dress is Primavera (a personification of Spring) whose companion is Flora. Flowers spring from Flora's mouth at the contact with the wind god.
The pastoral scenery is elaborate. "Botticelli" (2002) indicates there are 500 identified plant species depicted in the painting, with about 190 different flowers.
The history of the painting is not certainly known, though it seems to have been commissioned by one of the Medici family. It contains elements of Ovid and Lucretius and may have been inspired by a poem by Poliziano. Since 1919 the painting has been part of the collection of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

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