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Beyond the Brush S01E05
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00:09I think the birth of Venus is actually an almost perfect portrayal of the philosophy of the renaissance.
00:16Somebody looking at this would see an ideal woman. She is almost improving our nature.
00:24It's an idealised beauty. That's really, really important.
00:30In the heart of the renaissance, Sandro Botticelli was about to create a masterpiece.
00:35Something that would define beauty for centuries.
00:40He wanted us to understand that this is otherworldly.
00:43She really has become the epitome of ideal beauty.
00:49In a time of shifting ideals, he dared to imagine something ancient made new again.
00:55A goddess rising from the sea, untouched by the modern world.
01:01There's the element to this painting that it is decorative and the colours and the composition aid that.
01:07It's a technical masterpiece.
01:10With each brushstroke, beauty and myth come to life.
01:14And when it's finished, she stands before you.
01:17The birth of Venus.
01:19Here comes the pizze...
01:59This painting is without doubt one of the most popular paintings in the Uffizi. It's
02:05one of the most reproduced paintings in the shop and street vendors. Every single iPhone
02:11cover and tea towel and so forth is covered with this painting. And yet Botticelli, whilst
02:18he was extremely popular in his own day, fell almost completely out of favour.
02:22I think there's a very simple answer to why this fell out of favour. And I think the
02:26reason is because he backed the wrong horse.
02:32Although we admire Botticelli's masterpieces today as some of the greatest achievements
02:37of the Renaissance, what many don't realise is the artist himself became entangled in
02:43the political and religious turmoil of his time.
02:48His patrons were the Medici family and the Medici family were ruling Florence. Now the
02:54Medici family are going to be ousted by Savonarola. Savonarola would rise to power in Florence after
03:01the Medici's. His regime was driven by religion and Puritanism.
03:07And he's the mad monk who's going to burn all of the possessions in the squares in Florence
03:13and the bonfires of the vanity. And he's going to take over Florence and the Medici's are going
03:18to be ousted. A figure whose rise challenged their authority and condemned the very ideals
03:26Botticelli once painted so vividly. Eventually he gets too powerful and he is executed. And Botticelli is
03:34left behind in Florence and then the Medici's come back.
03:39The Medici's returned to power in 1512 after Botticelli's death, but it was too late for
03:45his reputation. His association with Savonarola likely diminished his standing in Florence.
03:51So as a result, Botticelli's work fell out of favour.
03:57And I think he fell out of favour with the Medicis for that specific reason. Plus by this
04:03time, you've got Leonardo coming in, you've got Michelangelo coming in, and he just fell
04:08out of fashion. That's really as simple as it is.
04:15But how did Botticelli and this masterpiece regain the recognition it deserved? Let's jump
04:22forward in time to find out.
04:24Well, the Uffizio actually becomes a public museum in the 18th century. And when it does
04:29become a public museum, there's pretty much no Botticelli in evidence. It's not until the
04:3419th century that the decision was taken to create a sort of chronology of Italian art.
04:39Oh, well, we better include Botticelli.
04:45After centuries of obscurity, Botticelli's work was once again brought into the spotlight.
05:01And the birth of Venus is included in that synopsis. But Primavera is not. Primavera is still
05:08kept in storage. So loads of Botticelli is in storage in the 19th century. It seems absolutely
05:24crazy until a number of art historians and critics, and particularly artists, started to look at his
05:32work afresh. And one of those groups of artists is the Pre-Raphaelite group. They love the decorative
05:40aspect of Botticelli's paintings, those subtle colors, this ornamentation, this idealization of
05:48feminine beauty. So when you look at a lot of Pre-Raphaelite women, they look very much like Botticelli.
05:54The Pre-Raphaelites loved him. The Pre-Raphaelites absolutely adored him. He really encapsulates that
06:01whole romantic concept that the Pre-Raphaelites were interested in. If you look at any Pre-Raphaelite
06:06painting, you can see the influence of this painting.
06:14It's often assumed that the Pre-Raphaelites were interested in Raphael. They weren't. They were
06:20interested in what was before Raphael. And unfortunately, thanks partly to the writings
06:28of Giorgio Vasari, the world's first art historian you might call him in the 16th century, he creates
06:33this idea of almost a Bronze Age and Silver Age and Golden Age of art. And who's at the height
06:40of
06:40the Golden Age? It's Raphael, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. And then there becomes this tendency
06:46rather to overlook artists that came before. Overshadowed by the towering figures of the High
06:53Renaissance, Botticelli's delicate poetic style fell out of step.
06:57His mythological visions and spiritual grace were set aside as the world turned toward precision and
07:05anatomy. For a time, Botticelli was little more than a footnote in art history. A genius hidden in plain sight.
07:15So there's this rebirth of interest, thank goodness, in Botticelli as I say. Partly,
07:21all largely, thanks to artists themselves, who see a reflection of many of their own ideals and
07:28aspirations in his magnificent paintings.
07:42I think she really has become the epitome of ideal female beauty. She is just such a magnificent
07:52homage to youth and beauty.
07:59I think there's nothing quite like this painting, actually, and I think it really stands out. First of all,
08:04it's so huge. It's a very big painting. This is another one of those paintings that you need to see
08:10in
08:10real life just to realise how huge it is.
08:14This is the first time we see a full-scale nude in Western art outside of a religious context. And
08:21I do think
08:22the shock of that idea has passed down through the centuries, and that's what's made it so iconic.
08:33But in many ways, this is a paradox. In many ways, this is reflective of how we see beauty in
08:39the modern
08:40world. Because actually, it's a very, very strange body.
08:47I want you to have a look, for example, at her left shoulder and her left arm. The proportion of
08:54that
08:54shoulder is really, really strange. It almost looks like that left arm is made out of plasticine,
09:01as it's been stretched out of all proportion. She has very, very long limbs. And if you look at the
09:09nymph on the left-hand side, probably Chloris, and she's grabbing hold of Zephyr, the wind,
09:15have a look at her body, then have a look at her neck, and then have a look at her
09:20legs, and try and work
09:21out how those legs are attached to that body. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It's completely
09:30nonsensical. It's completely anatomically inaccurate. But somehow, it doesn't matter.
09:43I think the birth of Venus is actually an almost perfect portrayal of the philosophy of the Renaissance.
09:49It's an idealized beauty. That's really, really important. It's an idealized form.
09:55The difference between this painting and the paintings of the later Renaissance is that this
10:00is a mythological subject. So it's not about reality. It's different in that context. We can
10:06take the form of Venus, and she is the perfect concept of the Renaissance.
10:11In 15th century Florence, nudity outside of religious or classical context was considered daring.
10:19Artistic depictions of the nude were typically reserved for biblical figures like Adam and Eve.
10:25Yet Botticelli's Venus boldly breaks from this convention, modestly covering herself in the
10:31ancient Venus Pudica pose. Her nudity is neither overtly erotic, nor entirely innocent.
10:43I think the key to this painting is sex. I think this is about sex, but not sex for pleasure.
10:49This is
10:49about sex for procreation. And I think the idea is that Venus is just about to step off that shell.
10:56She's not off the shell yet. She's just about to step onto the island, and she's going to make that
11:01island
11:02bloom, bloom, and blossom as child bearers. So it's about sex as procreation.
11:07She's not off the island, and she's from the island, and she's from the island.
11:32We think about what an ideal woman is supposed to look like today, probably large breasts,
11:38a very, very small waist, lots of long hair, long limbs. That's not so dissimilar from what an ideal woman
11:47was supposed to look like in the 15th century.
11:58During the Renaissance, everyone from poets to philosophers had something to say about the ideal woman.
12:04These weren't just abstract ideas. They shaped the art of the time.
12:11Writers such as Leon Battista Alberti, one of the era's greatest thinkers, believed that true beauty lay in symmetry, virtue
12:19and a quiet dignity.
12:21All qualities Venus seems to radiate.
12:26One of these quotes comes from the writings of Leon Battista Alberti, who wrote various treatises, one on architecture, one
12:34on painting.
12:35But he actually wrote one about the family as well.
12:38And in that he says the natural philosophers require that a woman be neither thin nor fat.
12:47They find that a woman is most suited to bear children if she has limbs of ample length.
12:58And then when we look at a slightly later source, this is a source from Brescia also in Italy in
13:04the early 16th century.
13:05This is almost like a checklist.
13:08Long the hair, the hands and the legs.
13:11Tiny the teeth, the ears and the breasts.
13:14Large the forehead, the torso and the hips.
13:17Narrow the waist, big but in good proportion, the buttocks, the arms and the thighs.
13:22Fine the eyebrows, the fingers and the lips.
13:25It's quite some checklist.
13:27Now, nobody actually looked like this, but you could help nature by, for example, plucking your eyebrows.
13:33Or plucking the hair out of the front of your head.
13:36So a lot of Botticelli's women have very, very high foreheads because perhaps the models made that forehead higher by
13:43plucking or shaving the hair from the top of their head.
13:48You can't change nature by stretching your own proportions, but you can do it in a work of art.
13:55So somebody looking at this would see an ideal woman.
14:00She is almost improving our nature.
14:03So in many respects, that's quite a modern thing to do.
14:11The face of Venus in this iconic painting may not be entirely imagined.
14:17Many believed she was modeled after Simonetta Vespucci, a renowned Florentine noble celebrated in her time as the most beautiful
14:26woman in this city.
14:28Though she died young, her image seems to live on in Botticelli's work.
14:34Decades later, when Botticelli died, he was buried near her in Florence's church of Ognisanti,
14:41leading to the long-held belief that he had asked to rest forever beside the woman who may have inspired
14:46his greatest masterpiece.
15:03The pastel-like colours of this painting are really, really crucial to understanding the painting, and this is really important
15:11because if we look at Botticelli's earlier works and his later works, they are completely different.
15:16The reason for this is because when Botticelli is painting a religious painting, as far as he's concerned, it's history.
15:23He's painting a history painting, and he's showing realism.
15:27This painting is not about realism, and so he doesn't use realistic tones.
15:31He uses these beautiful pastel tones, which is what really distinguishes it from other paintings of this period.
15:42So the colours that we see in the painting might seem quite pale.
15:47We have to bear in mind that there has been some change to the intensity of the colours over the
15:52years due to exposure to the light.
15:55And so, for example, the blue of the sea would have been a lot more intense and vivid.
16:02And there would have been a sense, almost a reflection, because of the use of gold leaf.
16:08Now, you really have to almost squint when you're in front of the painting these days to see the use
16:13of gold.
16:13But there's a lot of gold in the painting. There's a lot of gold in the hair of Venus.
16:18The entire shell is tinged with this edge of gold. All of the flowers have these little details of gold
16:26in the stems and so forth.
16:28And in the wings of Zephyr on the left-hand side and Chloris, there are also gold details.
16:33And if we look at the central figure herself, she is painted in this alabaster colour.
16:39She has an outline. She doesn't blend in naturally. There's no naturalism about this painting.
16:44He wanted us to understand that this is otherworldly, and so he uses otherworldly colours.
16:58Now, Botticelli trained as a goldsmith. By the time we get to the 1480s, 1490s, when he's at his height,
17:04the use of gold is seen as a little bit anachronistic, a little bit old-fashioned.
17:08But Botticelli doesn't really care about that. He loves the decorative effects of gold.
17:14So when we're coming back to this question of the colours, they're quite decorative colours.
17:19They're almost like the colours you might find in a tapestry or a fresco, a decorative fresco or tapestry.
17:25There's the element to this painting that it is decorative, and the colours in the composition aid that.
17:34Before Botticelli even picked up the brush, the birth of Venus began with careful planning, sketched out as an underdrawing
17:45on canvas, then layered with a smooth ground to prepare the surface.
17:50I think it's a technical masterpiece. There's no blending in this painting at all, because it's made with egg tempera,
17:58so it's a completely different technique.
18:05But unlike many Renaissance artists who built their scenes with dramatic shadows and perspective, Botticelli chose a different path.
18:14His figures are softly lit, with only minimal shading, giving them a flat, almost weightless presence.
18:24Oil painting hadn't really come into its own at this point, so people were painting with tempera.
18:29And what's super interesting about tempera is that it does keep its colours, and it keeps its colours because the
18:36egg binds it.
18:37The egg dries and binds it. It's made with egg and water and pigment.
18:41And once that egg dries, it keeps it tight.
18:44And so it's almost like a fresco. The colours seep in and are held forever.
18:49When you look up close, you see it's all about cross-hatching. It's not actually about blending paint.
18:54And technically, that was a difficult thing to do.
18:57So I think in that sense, Botticelli is a genius.
19:02That cross-hatching was no accident.
19:07It's part of a carefully balanced composition, where every element is placed with precision.
19:16Venus stands perfectly centred, framed by the winds on one side and the welcoming figure on the other.
19:25With a strong horizontal flow that guides the viewer's eyes from left to right.
19:32Even the curves of the shoreline and the folds of the drapery echo one another, creating a rhythm across the
19:39canvas.
19:42It perfectly depicts the moment from ancient mythology when Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, emerges fully formed from
19:51the sea foam.
19:53In the original story, she is carried ashore on a scallop shell, welcomed by the gentle winds and nymphs who
20:01celebrate her arrival.
20:06During the Renaissance, people were rediscovering and embracing the texts of classical antiquity.
20:13This renewed interest in ancient literature, philosophy and art inspired artists and thinkers to look back to the myths not
20:22just as stories, but as sources of wisdom.
20:29I think we have to consider the painting against the background of a movement in the 15th century known as
20:36humanism.
20:38And that is a rediscovery of interest in subjects such as poetry and rhetoric, that speech making and grammar and
20:46so forth.
20:47People are starting to have a greater knowledge of classical stories and classical mythology.
20:54Authors such as Homer or Hesiod, their accounts, their poems and their literature was being reborn, you might say, and
21:05published and becoming quite familiar in the 15th century.
21:10The artists and the patrons are showing their awareness and their knowledge of classical mythology, but also they're showing their
21:17knowledge and awareness of classical visual sources as well.
21:20So, for example, in the center, the image of Venus is based on a famous classical sculpture called the Venus
21:27Pudica.
21:28And actually there was a version of that classical sculpture in the Medici collection.
21:32We're not entirely sure whether it was in the Medici collection as early as the 15th century, but if it
21:39was, it's certainly something that Botticelli himself could be using as inspiration for the image of Venus in this painting.
21:47While it appears at first to be purely mythological, Botticelli weaves classical mythology with subtle threads of Christian symbolism, creating
21:57an image that reflects both pagan beauty and spiritual purity.
22:01I don't think it's purely mythological. I think there are Christian references in this and I think it's a way
22:07of incorporating Christian references into art about pagan subject matter.
22:12I think this references lots of other Christian paintings, for example, the baptism of Christ.
22:19And if you look at a lot of images of the Madonna, the religious images of the Madonna, she quite
22:24often has this conch shell next to her because it's a symbol of baptism as well.
22:29So there are lots and lots of Christian references and I think that's how he made it palatable.
22:34Venus is more than a goddess. She is an icon of love, feminine grace and the Renaissance view of perfection.
22:44It is a painting that speaks across time, merging poetry, philosophy and faith into a single universal image.
22:54few works are as beautiful or as lasting as the birth of Venus.
23:00.
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