Artist: Sandro Botticelli (Italian b. 1445 d. 1510)
Date: 1482
Dimensions: 6’8” x 10’4”
Medium: Tempera on canvas
Current location: Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Period: Italian renaissance (quattrocento)

Quick Notes:
  • "Primavera" is Italian for “spring.” The painting is often referred to as Allegory of Spring.
  • The painting is believed to have been painted for the Medici family, perhaps to
    commemorate a wedding.
  • Like other artists in the Medici circle, Botticelli was influenced by Neoplatonism. This
    philosophy equated Classical gods and goddesses from Greece and Rome with Christian
    figures. As a result, Venus, the central figure in this composition, can be equated to the
    Virgin Mary.
  • Venus’s son, Cupid, is flying above her. He is blindfolded (because "love is blind") and
    aiming his bow at the Three Graces. Leon Battista Alberti had suggested the Three Graces
    as a suitable subject for painters in his writings.
  • On the far left, Mercury uses his wand to banish the storm clouds that would darken the
    beautiful grove.
  • On the right, the wind god chases Chloris, a nymph. She is transformed into Flora, a
    goddess of fertility.

Suggested Compare-Contrast Target:
  • Raphael, Galatea
  • Perugino, The Delivery of the Keys

Writing Prompts:
  • What is the allegorical meaning of this painting? How might it work to commemorate a
    wedding?
  • How do the style and composition of this painting exemplify the quattrocento style?
    What is atypical of quattrocento art?

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Botticelli Primavera