Primavera

The Primavera was painted by an Italian artist named Sondro Botticelli. This painting was given as a wedding gift meant to be hung above the bed and that is why the figures are arranged in the near foreground as though you are looking up at them. The interesting thing I learned in the film is it has a violent scene of rape which may have represented the arranged marriages that took place at that time. People did not get to pick there mate, and the marriage bed may have felt like the woman was being violated by not knowing her husband prior to the wedding night. Zephyr, the god of the winds, was infatuated with Chloris the nymph who is transformed into Flora, the goddess of spring. From the union Spring is born and the flowers are scattered. There are about 150 different species of flowers and not all of them bloom in spring. Also, in the painting is what at the time would have been considered scantily dressed women, the Three Graces, the goddesses of beauty and harmony. Perhaps Mercury, identified by his winged boots, was not interested in women because he has his back to the three women and is reaching for the forbidden fruit of homosexuality. This secular painter chose to place Venus, the goddess of Love and Fertility, in the center with her child Cupid above her shooting arrows from his bow. A comparison can be made between the mother and her son and Madonna and Child.