The Birth of Venus is a tempera on canvas (172x278cm) painting by Sandro Botticelli, dating to ...

The Birth of Venus is a tempera on canvas (172x278cm) painting by Sandro Botticelli, dating to 1482-1485. It is an iconic work of the Italian Renaissance and one of the highest creations of the Florentine painter's, considered the ideal of female beauty in art. Contrary to the name, it depicts the goddess arriving on the island of Cyprus and moving gently on a shell along the surface of the sea rippled by the waves, in all her grace and unparalleled beauty, nude and pushed by the breath of Zefiro, the wind that gives life. It is said this the mode was Simonetta Vespucci, the famous beauty sung by Florentine artists and poets of the time. Aiutaci a far conoscere il nostro Patrimonio