#porto venere

[breathtakingdestinations]

Porto Venere - Italy (by Alessio Battistella)

[wgm-beautiful-world]

Porto Venere

[monica-teresa-bordignon]

2023.09.24 - Portovenere, Italy

[preselimoon]

Ancient Roman Villa 🫒

[herve-ramboz-photographie]

[cajon-desastre]

Porto Venere - bonus

A pleasant surprise on our route. A bus from La Spezia goes directly there. There are also ferries but they only work in high season. The castle area and the views are spectacular, although the weather was not ideal ☔

[travelella]

Porto Venere, La Spezia, Liguria, Italy

Ryan Klaus

[laragubbels]

Do you want to go to the seaside?

[lebenamar]

[postcard-from-the-past]

View of Porto Venere, Liguria region of Italy

Italian vintage postcard, mailed to France

[borntoloos]

[monica-teresa-bordignon]

2023.09.24 - Portovenere, Italy

[preselimoon]

Found ourselves in a sleepy little seaside town 30 minutes outside of La Spezia, exploring an ancient Roman villa

[beautyofaphrodite]

The Birth of Venus

I’m starting a series of sorts where I go in-depth about some art depictions of Lady Aphrodite. Many of these will technically be depictions of Lady Venus, and I know they’re different but in art they are often depicted the same.

The first art piece I’m covering is The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli.

Sandro Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli was born around 1445 and died on May 17, 1510. His actual name was Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi. He was an Italian painter of the early renaissance, famous for the Birth of Venus and Primavera, both of which are displayed in the Uffizi in Florence. Botticelli also contributed to the artwork in the Sistine Chapel.

Description of the Painting

This painting depicts the birth of Venus as she emerges from the sea. She is fully nude and standing on a scallop shell. To the left of the painting, Zephyr and Aura blow her towards the shore, where a woman, most likely the Hora of Spring, welcomes her. Venus is depicted with pale skin and long, orange hair.

Creation and Style of the Painting

The Birth of Venus was painted on “two pieces of canvas, sewn together before starting, with a gesso ground tinted blue” (Wikipedia). The dimensions of the painting are 172.5 cm × 278.9 cm (67.9 in × 109.6 in). Though Venus’s pose is classical, many elements of the painting are more of the Gothic style. Botticelli was never completely committed to naturalism, and some parts of the painting (especially her pose) are very unrealistic. Venus’s appearance was modeled after Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci, a noblewoman from Genoa or possibly Porto Venere. This painting was likely commissioned by someone from the Medici family.

I hope you learned something new, I certainly did and I think I will enjoy this new series! If you have any suggestions for art (paintings, statues, etc) for me to try to create a post similar to this, please let me know! Also let me know if you notice any errors in this post and I will do my best to fix it!

[yesterdayandkarma]

Porto Venere - A View To The Paradise) by Thomas Weiler