In an orange grove, Venus presides over the arrival of spring: Zephyrus seizes a nymph who transforms into Flora, goddess of flowers, scattering blossoms.
Why it matters
One of the largest mythological paintings since antiquity, and one of the most debated — a philosophical program in paint that still resists final interpretation.
What to notice
Botanists have identified some 500 plant species in the meadow; read the picture right to left and the story of Flora's transformation unfolds like a comic strip.
Context
Commissioned for a young Medici cousin, likely as a wedding picture full of learned advice about love.
Themes
Spring, transformation, love ascending from passion to contemplation.
Legacy
A cornerstone of the Uffizi and of every account of Renaissance humanism in art.
About the artist
Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445–1510). Favorite painter of the Medici circle, Botticelli translated Florentine Neoplatonist philosophy into images of linear grace — mythologies that feel like dances.
Renaissance (c. 1400–1600): Born in the city-states of Italy, the Renaissance revived the learning of antiquity and placed the human figure — observed, measured, idealized — at the center of art. Painters mastered perspective, anatomy, and oil glazing, and the artist rose from anonymous craftsman to celebrated genius.
Walk the Grand Gallery → See this painting hung in its wing, with music and guided tours, in the full virtual museum.