Alessandro Filipepi, more famously known as Sandro Botticelli, led the artistic movements in Florence’s Early Renaissance era with his works’ enigmatic nature. His placement as the court artist of Lorenzo de Medici, the man in charge of the Tuscan city-state from 1469-1492, allowed him to carry even more influence over his contemporaries than through his paintings alone. During his time under the Medici family’s patronage, he created some of the most cryptic and revolutionary works of art anyone had yet observed. Of these works, the most outstanding to both his fellow sub-Medici Florentines and 20th-21st century art historians and critics is La Primavera. As it was his first Medici commission, he painted it for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco – his
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Botticelli included trees and flowers to the backdrop of La Primavera; each individual species of flower, of which there are a total of 190, represents something different. The quality each exactly represents has been lost to time, but at least 130 of these are known to exist today. Half of the plants depicted flower throughout Florence’s hills in March and April – this painting’s depiction of springtime, therefore, is made even clearer. Not every flower is depicted with its natural leaves, further adding to the idea that the painting’s world is not earthly. It is known, however, that Botticelli placed these figures in a garden blooming so fruitfully to show just how lively and peaceful the figures’ realm was – especially under the care of a goddess like Venus, who was the goddess of love. This is underlined by the fact that she is surrounded by both myrtle leaves and orange trees, which represent love and the Medici family respectively. This being said, Botticelli did not name this painting himself. On the contrary, Giorgio Vasari was the one who gave La Primavera its self-explanatory name at least 50 years after the painting itself was officially completed.
La Primavera is most famous for its inscrutable nature; today, it is 15th Century Florence’s calling card for the same reasons that its meaning remains so heavily debated. Though it would be easier to understand if the historical context around it was not so faded by time, the ideas and images within its four sides represent more than 600 years of enlightened
Botticelli included trees and flowers to the backdrop of La Primavera; each individual species of flower, of which there are a total of 190, represents something different. The quality each exactly represents has been lost to time, but at least 130 of these are known to exist today. Half of the plants depicted flower throughout Florence’s hills in March and April – this painting’s depiction of springtime, therefore, is made even clearer. Not every flower is depicted with its natural leaves, further adding to the idea that the painting’s world is not earthly. It is known, however, that Botticelli placed these figures in a garden blooming so fruitfully to show just how lively and peaceful the figures’ realm was – especially under the care of a goddess like Venus, who was the goddess of love. This is underlined by the fact that she is surrounded by both myrtle leaves and orange trees, which represent love and the Medici family respectively. This being said, Botticelli did not name this painting himself. On the contrary, Giorgio Vasari was the one who gave La Primavera its self-explanatory name at least 50 years after the painting itself was officially completed.
La Primavera is most famous for its inscrutable nature; today, it is 15th Century Florence’s calling card for the same reasons that its meaning remains so heavily debated. Though it would be easier to understand if the historical context around it was not so faded by time, the ideas and images within its four sides represent more than 600 years of enlightened