This is one of my favourite paintings.  First of all because I am a romantic person, secondly because there is so much symbolism in it.




Flora



It is called Primavera (Allegory of Spring) and it was painted by Sandro Botticelli in about 1482 that is in Renaissance.

You can see six girls and two boys in an orange grove. To the right of the painting, you can see a woman with a crown of flowers who takes flowers from her dress and scatters them. Next to her is a woman in white who is being seized by a boy with puffed cheeks. This boy is Zephyrus who kidnaps the Nymph Chloris.  Later on he marries her and transforms her into the goddess of Spring, Flora who is the girl scattering roses on the ground.

Central and somewhat isolated from the other figures stands a red-draped woman in blue. This is Venus.  The trees behind her form a broken arch.



Zephyrus and Chloris
Chloris transforms into Flora

 On the left a group of three girls in diaphanous white dresses join hands in a dance while a boy with a sword and a helmet is trying to catch a cloud. Above their heads you can see cupid who aims at them with his arrow.  The girls are the Graces who accompany Venus.



Botanologists have studied the painting and have found out that there are there are 500 identified plant species depicted in the painting, with about 190 different flowers.Out of the 190 different species of flowers depicted, at least 130 have been specifically named.

You can see the painting in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.



the Graces



What I like in the painting is how Chloris is transformed into the Goddess of Spring.  I like the image of Venus in the middle and the happy and joyful dance of the Graces. Although the painting has darkened during the course of the years I can't help imagining how it must have been when Botticelli painted it. I would like to go to Florence and see it one day.

What do you like on this painting?