The Birth of Venus

Name: The Birth of Venus

Date: c. 1482–1486

Location: The Uffizi, Florence, Italy

Approximate Dimensions: 172.5 x 278.5 cm (67 7/8 x 109 5/8 in.)

Artist: Sandro Botticelli

Commissioner, collector: Pierfrancesco or Lorenzo il Magnifico

Medium: tempura paint on canvas

Sources of info: a placard in the Uffizi,

http://www.palazzo-medici.it/mediateca/en/Scheda_Sandro_Botticelli,_Nascita_di_Venere_(1478-1485_circa)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/The_Birth_of_Venus

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Significance of the work:

During the middle ages Christian symbols and clothed saints were the common subject matter of art, therefore when the Renaissance was born, it was shocking to suddenly paint pagan images.During the Renaissance Botticelli helped to develop a new technique for modeling in painting by which lighter parts seem to emerge from darker areas, producing the illusion of rounded sculptural relief on a flat surface. This subject has been traditionally recognized as the birth of Venus, even though modern criticism has drawn attention to the fact that the painting appears rather to illustrate the arrival of the goddess in Cyprus. It is points to the peoples returning interest in mythology. The Birth of Venus is the oldest large-scale painting on canvas to have been found in Tuscany.