00:05Sandro Botticelli's poetic sense of beauty
captivated the Florentine court, but it was his
00:11subject matter which distinguished him from other
artists. He was one of the first Western artists
00:17since classical times, to depict non-religious
scenes. The idea that art could be for pleasure
00:23and not just to serve God, was new and radical.
When Botticelli revealed his latest painting
00:29in Florence in 1485, he also revealed a dramatic
shift in western art. Botticelli's inclusion of a
00:37near-life-sized female nude was unprecedented in
Western art. This wasn't Eve being expelled from
00:43the Garden of Eden, shamed by her nudity. It wasn't
the naked hordes sent to Hell in Dante's Inferno.
00:52In fact this wasn't nudity as a symbol
of shame at all - or even sin - or wickedness.
00:59This was a celebration of the naked
human form, this was a celebration of sex.
01:28Renaissance translates as "Rebirth" and although
dates are debatable, we can start in Florence
01:34around the 14th century, when a renewed interest in
ancient Greco-Roman culture led to an intellectual
01:41and artistic rebirth. A rise in Humanist philosophy,
and radical changes in ideas about religion,
01:48politics and science. Ideas that would turn
art on its head. New ways of thinking spread
01:57throughout Europe inspired by ancient cultures,
that focused less on religion and more on the
02:03possible achievements of mankind. It was regarded
as the beginning of the "individual", the end of the
02:10middle ages, and the start of modernity. In this
period artists relied entirely on wealthy patrons.
02:19Luckily for us the Medici banking
family were the wealthiest of them all.
02:24Botticelli's patron was Lorenzo de' Medici, who
dominated Florence's political and cultural life.
02:32He was a cultured, intelligent man, who spoke
Latin and Greek. He was also a Humanist.
02:38Renaissance Humanism was not anti-Christian or
atheistic, it was a revival of moral philosophy.
02:46A move to purify and renew Christianity, Rather
than the "collective", emphasis was placed on
02:52free-will the value of individual
human beings and their capacities.
02:58Without this new way of thinking, it is doubtful
we would have had artists like Botticelli,
03:03Michelangelo and da Vinci. Humanism would
radicalise art, artists and subject matter.
03:11Botticelli would bridge the gap between Medieval
Gothic art and the emerging Humanism. We can see
03:17the different styles in these two images. The
first is late Gothic, the period that preceded
03:24the Renaissance. It is heavily stylised and flat,
flesh tones are pallid, expressions are vacant and
03:30it is unemotional. The second, a work that inspired
the young Botticelli, shows three-dimensionality,
03:38the figures are more human, more fleshy. Mary
is a mother not just a saint and Jesus is a
03:44realistic child. It is an image we can relate to
and empathise with. It wasn't just style though,
03:52Religious art had dominated the medieval period
and the Renaissance gave artists like Botticelli
03:57freedom to explore new subject matters...
albeit within a Christian framework.
04:05Narrator: "The island where Aphrodite the Greek goddess
of love was born out of sea spray on this very beach"
04:11The story of the goddess of love and
beauty starts with a castration. The god Saturn
04:17castrated his father Uranus and
then threw his genitals into the sea.
04:23Out of the seafoam an unbelievable
beauty emerges fully formed - Venus.
04:29The first thing to say is that the painting
does not represent venus's "actual birth"
04:34but rather the next part of the story, when
Venus arrives on the island of Cyprus on a shell.
04:41If we take the characters one by one, the
male figure on the far left is Zephyr, the
04:47warm spring winds. He is blowing Venus ashore.
Zephyr is locked in an embrace with his wife
04:54Chloris, who herself is blowing gentle breaths.
Roses fall around them - each with a golden heart.
05:03According to legend rose's first grew at Venus's
birth. We have seen both these characters before -
05:10in the earlier mythological Venus painting by
Botticelli, "Primavera", Zephyr raped Chloris and
05:17married her, and then turned her into Flora, the
goddess of flowers. A woman welcomes Venus with a
05:24red cloth covered in daisies. She is likely to be one
of the "Horae" or personifications of the seasons,
05:31summer in this case, as her dress is decorated
with cornflowers and primroses, and at her feet
05:37are anemones. All summer flowers. Hora wears a rose
girdle and has a necklace of myrtle, a plant sacred
05:46to the goddess Venus, an aphrodisiac, and a symbol
of love. Then there is Venus herself, also known as
05:53Aphrodite to the ancient Greeks. Botticelli
has painted her twice before, for "Primavera"
06:00and "Venus and Mars". This time she is naked: The
first full female nude of a non-biblical character.
06:09Botticelli was probably inspired by an ancient
marble statue in the Medici's collection, now
06:14known as the "Medici Venus", the first ever female
nude sculpture in classical art. Her modest pose
06:21is known as "Venus Pudica", a stance where a nude
female uses her right hand to cover her breast,
06:29while her left hand tries to hide her pubic
area. It is a pose that makes voyeurs of us all.
06:36The word "Pudica" in latin not only means "genitalia",
but also translates as "Shame". We just don't see
06:44this coy sexually suggestive pose with male
statues, either in antiquity or during the
06:50Renaissance. Naked men were associated with active
heroism, but women were passive sexual objects.
06:59In many ways the statue was a blueprint for a pose
that would have a cultural and artistic impact
07:05felt across western art for the subsequent two and
a half thousand years. The influence of sculpture
07:18statue-like pose, but she has alabaster skin. She
is unreal, an idealised figure not bound by natural
07:26laws. Botticelli painted a dark line around the
contours of her body making it easier to see her
07:32pale body against the equally pale background, and
emphasizing the marble-like quality of her flesh.
07:40Venus's figure is elongated in the Gothic style,
she appears graceful but she is not quite central
07:47and her weight isn't evenly distributed. The shell
would tip over if she placed her full weight on the
07:53edge like she does, but this is not the real world.
It has been said that Venus has what is called
08:01"The Gothic sway", a pre-Renaissance variation on the
Contrapposto pose, which places the weight of
08:07the body on the forward stationary leg, creating an
elegant curved pose often seen in Madonna figures,
08:14a theme we will come back to. The wind deities
are in an impossible convoluted embrace
08:20and like all the characters, appear weightless with
very little depth. They are all in the foreground,
08:26all on the same pictorial plane, which creates an
intense theatricality, and none of the figures cast
08:33shadows. This is not a mistake, but heightened
realism. If we compare this earlier painting
08:40by Botticelli to The Birth of Venus, we see true
realism - depth, shadowing and action taking place
08:47on different pictorial planes. As far as the
devoutly Christian Botticelli was concerned
08:54his religious paintings were "actual reality",
history even, and he painted them as such.
09:00Whereas with his mythological works, he is letting
the viewer know "stylistically" that what they are
09:06looking at is a product of imagination. What
we are seeing here, is movement and energy
09:12not seen before. Venus, pushed by the wind
is about to step off her shell onto the
09:18shore. Her hair is blowing in the wind, the
Hora rushes forward with a billowing cloak,
09:25roses fly through the air, the orange trees
rustle and drapery flaps around the bodies.
09:33It is a movement and energy found on ancient
Roman reliefs. Then there is the background.
09:39In contrast with all the flowers that
surround the four characters, the little
09:43bays we see along the shore are pretty barren.
The suggestion is that once Venus steps ashore,
09:49the land will blossom. Botticelli is not interested
in replicating nature, but rather in creating a
09:56dreamscape. The contrast between the green of
the sea and the paleness of venus is wonderful.
10:02The waves are mere gestures - a flick of the
wrist. The flowering orange grove references
10:09the sacred garden of Hesperides in Greek myth.
The detailing is exquisite, every blossom is
10:16tipped with real gold, which is used throughout
the painting for highlights. Botticelli trained
10:22as a goldsmith before he took up painting and his
strong outlines and ornamented decorative elements
10:29reflect that. There is a peculiar detail in
the painting which is these bulrushes. Out
10:35of place as they don't grow in salt water. It
is almost certainly a subtle phallic reference
10:42to the discarded member of Uranus that created
Venus. An in-joke for those clever Florentines.
10:51When botticelli painted The Birth of Venus,
approximately 10 percent of western paintings
10:56were non-religious, and of that 10 percent
the vast majority were portraits. Mythological
11:02paintings were a whole new art form, so it makes
sense that a devout Christian like Botticelli
11:08would incorporate familiar references. Botticelli
knew the philosopher and priest Marcilio Ficino
11:15whose mission was to combine ancient philosophy
with Christianity. His idea of a "Celestial Venus" as
11:22opposed to the pagan goddess, had her as a stand-in for
charity and love. I don't think it is a disguised
11:28Christian allegory, but in art history terms there
are familiar references that are worth examining.
11:35If we look at this standard composition of
the baptism of Christ, you can see what i mean
11:40Ghiberti's work had a semi-naked figure in the
middle, two flying angels on the left, and John
11:46the baptist with an outstretched hand. In this
baptism we see the same almost nude, motionless
11:53figure in the centre, a pair on the left hand side
and once again John the Baptist echoing the Hora.
12:00Then we can look at this painting of the Virgin
Mary, Botticelli painted a couple of years later.
12:05It has a comparable composition, the two women are
strikingly similar, and it would appear that he
12:11used the same model. Mary, like Venus, is dominated
by the scallop shell. In christian symbolism it
12:19represents "Baptism" and "Resurrection". In pagan
symbolism the shell is a representation of
12:25fertility or female sexual organs. It is entirely
possible that Botticelli was depicting Venus
12:32as an emblem of sacred or divine love. A familiar
Renaissance trope. Part of Botticelli's genius
12:39was to take a pagan story, a nude female, and make
them acceptable to contemporary Christian thinking.
12:48In this period paintings were generally done on
wooden panels, but this is on canvas. Suggesting the
12:54painting was almost certainly made for a country
villa, rather than a townhouse. Canvas was cheaper,
13:01easier to transport and was considered less formal.
It was originally painted on two separate canvases
13:07which were then stitched together. Botticelli used
the egg tempera technique for The Birth of Venus,
13:13a primary method of painting until after
1500 when it was superseded by oil painting
13:21First you break an egg yolk into a container,
then you add some water to make it easier to use,
13:28you dilute your pigment with water, and add it to
the egg yolk. Different quantities for different
13:33applications. For the body of Venus, Botticelli
used a very thin layer of tempura, giving more
13:40luminosity and a pronounced radiant appearance.
Tempura was perfect for Botticelli's paintings,
13:46which are known for their elegant qualities of
line and shape. Rather than shading wet-on-wet
13:53which you cannot do with tempura, you can see how
the golden colour of Venus's hair is achieved by
13:58light and dark rhythmic lines, to suggest texture.
He also added pure gold highlights. Here you can
14:06see he used delicate cross hatching rather than
the blending you would get with oil painting.
14:12Tempura is a difficult technique, but centuries
later artists still use it. So why? Because it has
14:20a graphic quality and a luminosity you don't get
in oil, and unlike oil paint it will not yellow or
14:27fade. The egg dries to form a solid protective coat,
so colour remains clear bright and pure over time.
14:38We don't know for sure who commissioned the
birth of venus but it was probably the de-facto
14:42ruler of Florence, Lorenzo de' Medici
and destined for the Medici villa Castello.
14:49Primavera was commissioned by Lorenzo as a
wedding gift for his cousin, also called Lorenzo,
14:56and in 1550 the art historian Giorgio Vasari
saw both paintings at the villa, so it's a strong
15:03possibility, The Birth of Venus was commissioned as
a companion piece to Primavera - a wedding gift.
15:10The paintings show two very different aspects of Venus
but both are in line with Renaissance thinking.
15:16The aforementioned philosopher and theologian
Marcilio Ficino described Venus's "Dual nature",
15:23as both the celestial goddess that inspired
intellectual love, and the earthly goddess
15:29that celebrated the power of procreation. And I
think "procreation" is the key to this painting.
15:36Noble families like the Medici didn't marry
for love, they married for power, accelerated
15:42by important arranged marriages. The function of
women was their ability to procreate, and the new
15:49bride's arrival into the Medici bed chamber is
paralleled by the arrival of Venus on Cyprus,
15:55who will bring life to a barren island. So in a
way the birth of venus is an image celebrating "Sex",
16:04but not in an erotic or sensual way. I've always
been struck by how venus is strangely "asexual"
16:12and her nudity is clinical. And maybe that's
because she represents sex as a necessary function.
16:20Sex for procreation, the ultimate
goal in a dynastic marriage.
16:27On february the 7th, 1497 a huge bonfire was lit
in the centre of Florence. Books on poetry and
16:35classical texts were burned ,along with paintings,
sculptures, mirrors and musical instruments.
16:41Anything considered frivolous was burned. Florence
had fallen under the spell of the extraordinary
16:48Dominican friar Geronimo Savonarola, whose "fire
and brimstone" sermons mesmerised thousands in the
16:56city. After a 60-year reign, the powerful Medici
family had been driven out of Florence by a
17:03mere priest. One who was determined to rid
the city of the Medici's "sinful" influence.
17:10One of Savonarola's most enthusiastic
followers was Botticelli, who according to some,
17:16willingly threw some of his
own paintings into the bonfire.
17:20We are fortunate that his greatest mythological
works survived, only because they were held at
17:25the Villa de Castello - beyond the reach of both
Savonarola's followers and Botticelli himself.
17:32After Savonarola's death, Botticelli was
increasingly seen as old-fashioned and irrelevant.
17:38Commissions dried up, and it was the beginning
of a sad decline into obscurity. He was at the
17:45height of his powers when he painted The Birth of
Venus, but by the time of his death in 1510, he was
17:51all but forgotten. The Medici's had moved on to a
new generation of artists. With The Birth of Venus,
17:59Botticelli really did produce a work of art that
was revolutionary, a work that changed the course
18:05of art history, and one that still looks intensely
modern to 21st century eyes. In fact The Birth
18:13of vVnus is as influential now as it was five
centuries ago. It is one of the most recognisable
18:19images in the world. The ancient Gods may have
given birth to Venus - but Botticelli gave her life.
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