Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus

Italian painter Sandro Botticelli created The Birth of Venus, which was most likely completed in the middle of the 1480s. Following her birth, when she had emerged from the sea fully-grown, it shows the goddess Venus making her way to the shore (called Venus Anadyomene and often depicted in art). The painting is housed at Florence, Italy's Uffizi Gallery.

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli, which was created for Lorenzo de Medici, was the first full-length, non-religious nude since antiquity. The Goddess of Love is said to be based on Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci, whose favors are said to have been shared by Lorenzo and his younger brother Giuliano. Zephyrus and Aura, the wind gods, are seen blowing Venus on a large clamshell to land where the personification of spring is waiting in a cloak.

Naturally, Venus enraged Savonarola, the Dominican monk who oversaw a fundamentalist crackdown on the Florentines' secular preferences. During his campaign, famed "Bonfire of the Vanities" in 1497 took place, in which "profane" items like books, paintings, and cosmetics were burned on a bonfire. The Birth of Venus was supposed to be burned, but luckily, it was spared. Botticelli, however, was so alarmed by the event that he temporarily stopped painting.

Artist: Sandro Botticelli

Created: 1484–1486