This picture's by Botticelli.

He was a Florentine artist who very much admired

during his lifetime.
He worked for the Medici in Florence, one of the important patron families that we
will
see during this course.
He also worked for the Pope
in Rome.
He's active during the second half of the fifteenth century. His main works were
painted between fourteen seventy and forteen
ninety.
The picture that you see on the screen is an anunciation.
It's a small picture. Ignore the surrounding space which was originally occupied by
a frame.
It shows the moment when the Virgin Mary is said to have received news from the
Angel Gabriel that
she will be the mother of Jesus Son of God.

As is fitting Botticelli creates an air of quiet mystery for this event.

Let your eyes wonder through the painting.
Both the Angel and Mary bend their heads in humble gestures.
The Angel holds his cloak as he kneels.
The Virgin modestly covers herself with her robes.

We see her through a drawn curtain.

This type of image, where we look into a room uninvited,
will appear again in our course in several weeks in the art of Vermeer, a
seventeenth century Dutch painter.
Notice the contrast between the hard stone and the straight angles of the
architecture
and the softness and curves of the white fabric.
Over the furniture behind the Virgin the cloth is so thin that we can see what lies
behind it.
We're seduced by the particular magic of this painting as we're drawn into the
painted world through this kind of detail.

As in the last paintings that we saw by Fra Angelico,

notice the emphasis on the idea that the painting is a window that opens into a
space
that seems realistic. It seems to have three dimensions.

This is achieved through a system called linear perspective

which is characteristic of the early Renaissance.
Lets use this painting as an example
to explain this system.
If we extend the lines that in the illusion of the painting are perpendicular to
the picture plane,
that is to the panel or the canvas support,
they would coincide in one or in a few points.
By using this system,
the painter creates the impression that the Angel is inside of a realistic three-
dimensional space.

Like when pop artists inserted the Coca Cola logos in their painting of the early
nineteen sixties,
this kind of perspective made the painting look up-to-date.
It looked very modern to contemporaries.
Notice also another feature at the time of the painting that was seen as very
modern for the time,
the use of classical architecture,
and look also at the landscape barely visible behind the windows,
incorporating landscapes like these was an idea imported from the Netherlands, as
we will see later on in this course.
Remember, there's always a lot of borrowing in the history of art.
This painting is called Venus and Mars
and it's also by Botticcelli.
The long format of the painting shows that it was adapted to the shape of a piece
of furniture,
such as a bed or a Chester bench.
This is a reminder that art at the time had a function.
It was made for specific places and its themes made sense in those places.
When looking at the art of Fra Angelico we saw religious paintings which were made
for private devotion in a home or for
churches.
Here we see Mars asleep on the right.
He was the God of War.
His spear and helmet had been taken from him.
Opposite is Venus,
the Goddess of Love according to ancient mythology.
Love here seems to have conquered war.
She is awaken, he's asleep.
This may have been painted for a bedchamber and the painting may refer to the power
of love,
specifically of carnal love.
The sleep of Mars here
suggests that this is a moment that follows lovemaking.
In Botticelli we find more mythological themes than we did in Fra Angelico.
During the Renaissance there was a true obsession with bringing back the life of
classical antiquity.

Its remains around Italy and other parts of Europe spoke of its greatness
and their goal of making buildings and statues look like Greek and Roman
architectures and sculptures.
Sculptors could rely on the remains that lay in their midst,
so could architects.
Very few ancient paintings had survived,
so what did painters do?
They painted ancient themes
and also they found inspiration in statues.
Here the dress of Venus is inspired in clothing from classical statues
as is the pose of the two figures
which draws from an ancient sarcophagus that was actually known at the time.

The painting is also about beauty.

The whole picture shows the smooth beauty characteristic of Botticelli.
The triumph of Venus over Mars is achieved through her beauty.
Look at her hair and her dress.
The picture's a beautiful poetic invention.
It's an idea, a mood turned into an image.

The title of this painting is the birth of Venus. It's one of the most famous
pictures by Botticelli.
It shows the arrival of Venus from the sea on to the earth.
It's hard to imagine a more important message.
Just try to think of a world without love and without beauty.
Those are the concepts that Venus represents here.
Botticelli has given this his best effort.
Venus is pushed ashore by a man who is blowing on her.
He represents the gentle breeze that brings the Spring.
He actually carries the Spring in his arms.
The arrival of Venus means the beginning of life. The woman who receives her is
probably Flora,
Goddess of Flowers.
Ancient myths such as this can bring to us profound truths about the forces
that rule the world and they rule our conduct.
Here we see the power of love and of beauty, forces that generate life,
just as Spring brings life to nature.

Venus is based on Greek and Roman statues.

Graceful movements and proportions, the decorative use of line, the ornamental
charm of the image are qualities characteristic of this artist.
What Botticelli paints is different from what is found in nature or in works of art
that inspired him.
It's a translation of the natural world and of his sources
into a different form.
That translation into an original form is what we call art.
Notice in this image how the neck of the goddess is too long
or her shoulders too low.

Botticelli transforms reality

at the service of his message.
The woman is made exceedingly graceful and delicate so that she can express the
idea of beauty and love,
the greatest of gifts.