The Birth of Venus

No one on any rock radio station on the planet Earth right now ever, maybe ever again, will mention Botticelli, the Renaissance painter's main

muse, the redhead in The Birth of Venus.

is Simonetta.

Yeah, so when I was studying photography, of course, I was studying art history as well.

Birth of Venus.

The Birth of Venus,

Botticelli, sure.

Those paintings, those pieces of art are going to mean things for different people, of course.

It was not only Ovid, who was the source for this fresco, but that famed Tuscan poet, my favorite poet, Poliziano, who is dead at this point, he died in the 1490s, but who wrote those very, very celebrated verses about Galatea in his long epic poem that he dedicated to his friend and patron, Giuliano de' Medici, brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and the Madonna of Florence, as in Madonna the singer, right? The Madonna of Florence, Simonetta Vespucci.

This is the very same poem that is suggested to have inspired Botticelli's Birth of Venus, which is often cited in relation to Raphael's Galatea.

So they're drawing from the same literary source, Poliziano, rather than Raphael drawing from Botticelli.

But, you know, I'm sure there's an argument for both versions of this, so I'm not making an absolute claim here.

Painted in the mid 1480s when England was having a Battle of Bosworth.

Florence was painting well not all of it Botticelli was painting the birth of Venus yes there we are that's all righty Aphrodite then and now we enter the realm of the essence of Uh, it's about you are mythology.

Not referring, I think, is this the only track we play which doesn't refer to a specific? Now

we've

Then we have the Italian Renaissance.

They're all about humanism, perspective, allegory, and the revival of classic Greek and Roman myths, which is why you're getting paintings like Botticelli's Birth of Venus.

But for Bosch, we are in the first one, the Northern Renaissance.

Makes

That was the cultural explosion that, 500 years ago, helped pull Europe out of the Middle Ages and into modern times.

Visitors gaze into the eyes of Michelangelo's David, enjoy Botticelli's Birth of Venus, delve into the 3D wonders of Ghiberti's glorious bronze gates, and appreciate Fra Angelico's serene beauty.

And the cathedral features a beloved bell tower and a chance to climb the dome that kicked off the Renaissance for a view you'll never forget.

Florence was long an economic powerhouse.

In the Renaissance, as in the ancient world, people saw the glory of God in the beauty, order, and harmony of the human body, God's greatest creation.

Classical statues clearly inspired Sandro Botticelli.

For me, his Birth of Venus is the Uffizi's purest expression of Renaissance beauty.

The goddess of love, born from the foam of a wave, is just waking up.

... to a time period in which it does not belong, Megan.

But I would like to have my, like, Birth of Venus moment with that clam.

Oh, yeah.

You know? Yeah.

I don't, I don't know the answer.

Birth of Venus by Botticelli.

Of Venus.

Oh.