Botticelli - an oldie but a goodie!

A bit of an art week this week.  Today is the day that the artist Botticelli died in 1510.  So not a modern artist today!

By far his most famous work was “The Birth of Venus” – which I won’t put an image for – given that this is a family friendly blog.  Not that it showed all that much but Venus is standing on a huge scallop shell clad only in her hair – luckily very long and bountiful hair.  Although it is Venus’s birth she appears to be a full grown woman to me.  The painting is so famous, there have been a number of knock offs – like this one by the Muppets.  Go Miss Piggy.

 Oh, ok here’s an image of the detail of Venus’ face and of her feet on the shell.

 I will show you his “Virgin and Child with Angels”

He was an Italian Renaissance painter- working a generation or so before the likes of Michelangelo, and El Greco.  Not a lot is known about his private life although it is said that he never married because of unrequited love for a married woman at the foot of whose tomb he asked to be buried.  She is supposed to have been the inspiration both for Venus and for the Madonna in the image above.