SANDRO BOTICELLI - Spring

Spring is originally a large tempera painting on a wood panel by Sandro Botticelli, measuring 207 x 319 cm - 81 x 125 inches. The mythological figures in the painting are an allegory of spring and of the kindling of love. La Primavera (Spring) commemorated the Florentine Renaissance—a cultural, political, and economic rebirth of the Florentine Republic. The painting originally hung in the summerhouse of the Medici family as a companion piece to The Birth of Venus. In the centre of the painting is the protagonist and the Goddess of Love, Venus, here depicted with long hair, standing and gazing ate her surroundings while she seems to be welcoming the visitors to the World of Love in the meantime. On the right side we see a bluish-complexion, swollen-check, winged figure. It is Zephyrus, the God of the west wind, that is chasing after Chloris, with whom he is in love. Chloris, here depicted with a thin branch coming out of her mouth, is a nymph, namely a nature deity. Marrying Zephyrus