Birth of Venus is one of the most famous paintings
in the world. It was painted by Alessandro di Mariano
Filipepi, known as Sandro Botticelli, who was an Italian
painter of the Florentine School that emerged in the
early Renaissance period. In mythology, Venus wasconceived when the Titan Cronus castrated his father, the god Uranus, whose severed genitals fertilized the sea.
Venus was
conceived when the Titan Cronus castrated his father, the
god Uranus, whose severed genitals fertilized the sea.
Venus is an arrestingly beautiful figure with her
delicate skin and soft-flowing curls fresh from the sea.
Historically, this is the most important depicted nude since
classical antiquity.
Apart from its artistic quality, Birth of Venus is
noteworthy for having been the first known Tuscan work of
art to be painted on canvas, which is now standard but was
then revolutionary, with paintings customarily done on more
expensive wood panels. It was restored in 1987 to heighten
the bright vividness of the painting as it first appeared, an
effect achieved by the use of lustrous alabaster powder and
gold leaf.
(Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — adaptation.)