Birth of Venus is one of the most famous paintings around the world. Botticelli was born in 1444 in Florence, Italy, and was an early Renaissance artist (Kleiner 239-240). Even though he was a goldsmith at 14, he preferred to paint so he became an apprentice under Fra Filippo Lippi, and later to Antonio del Pollaiuolo, both of them were master artists of the early Renaissance, Florence. Lippi had a significant influence on Botticelli’s delicate style, such as techniques of panel painting and control of linear perspective. Botticelli used clear and pure colors to paint elegance of line to paint graceful depictions of women (Sandro Botticelli). Botticelli painted Birth of Venus for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, one of Lorenzo the Magnificent’s cousins in 1484-1486 ca in Florence, Italy (Kleiner 239-240). paintings. However, its disadvantage was quick drying time, which made the smooth blending of tones very difficult (Kleiner 220) so Botticellis tempera gesso was modified by the addition of oil to make the paint more transparent (‘Tempera painting’). Emphasizing the artists’ brushstroke techniques gave art
ists to build up deep tones through the repeated glazing (Kleiner 220). Even though the canvas was lighter and more easily portable than the wood panel, Birth of Venus was the first instance of painting on canvas in the early Renaissance because canvas became popular until in the late 16th century (‘Early Renaissance Artworks’, Kleiner 220). In the Birth of Venus, figures were done by careful underpainting in charcoal, freehand without a cartoon, and using a stylus to enhance lines of features. Botticelli established a powerful outline to highlight its elegant image and contacted modeling with light to dark tones. He used gold paint to represent highlights on the wings, the hair, the fabric, and the shell (‘Early Renaissance Artworks’) and also laid in the foundation colors to varied areas, for instance, ‘white lead, or the unprimed gesso, provided a base for the flesh tones, carbon black or malachite for the trees and landscape ‘(Dempsey). He developed his rich color schemes in that period. Botticelli created a style of visual poetry parallel to the love poetry of famous patron Lorenzo de Medici (Kleiner 240).