Primavera, or Spring, is one of the masterpieces of the Florentine Renaissance, and it is on display at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

It was painted by one of the greatest artist of that period, Sandro Botticelli, for the Medici family, who commissioned it. It’s a huge painting, more than three meters wide and two meters high. It’s one of the first artwork which represents the “renaissance” of the aesthetic ideals that were central to classical culture, but its real charm lies in the halo of mystery that still surrounds it.

The work clearly depicts a group of nine pagan life-sized charachters, all belonging to the culture of classical mythology. What is less clear is the message these characters and their actions want to communicate.

On the deep meaning of the Primavera critics have suggested different interpretations, that in some ways seem to coexist within the painting.

The myth of Flora

The scene on the right represents a story by Roman poet Ovidio, about the birth of Flora, the goddess of flowers. The flying blue figure is the spring wind Zephyrus, that according to the story kidnaps the nymph Chloris (the girl with flowers coming out of her mouth) and from their union comes Flora (the girl with the flowers dress).

Venus in the center

The central figure is Venus, goddess of love, representaed in this case as pure and chaste. Her role is to moderate the material strength of the figures on the right. Close to her the Graces – the incarnation of beauty, chastity and voluptuousness – are dancing and being protected by the god Mercury (last character on the left), who represents reason, and is using his stick to drive away the clouds, a symbol of ignorance.

One scene, different meanings

What is represented is almost universally recognized, but the allegoric meaning of the painting is open to different phyolosifical interpretations, and also to the stories of the Medicis family, or to the history of Florence itself.

Would you like to discover them with us? Book now your ! We’ll analyze the painting in depth and we’ll admire its compositional harmony and the refined details.

[Image source: www.uffizi.org]