The Birth of Venus is undoubtedly one of the world’s most famous and appreciated works of art. Painted by Sandro Botticelli between 1482 and 1485, it has become a landmark of XV century Italian painting, so rich in meaning and allegorical references to antiquity.

Venus, according to the Greek poet Hesiod who wrote the Theogony, wasborn out of sea foam. Ancient mythology is filled with blood and violence and this story is not an exception. The story goes that the God Uranus had a son named Cronus who overthrew his father, castrating him and throwing his genitals into the sea. This caused the water to be fertilised, and Venus was born.

After her birth she came ashore on a shell, pushed along by the breath of Zephyrus, the god of the west wind. In the painting we see Zephyrus embracing the nymph Chloris. The girl about to cover Venus with a flowery mantle is thought to be one of the Hours. They were the mythological handmaidens of Venus who also had power over the natural cycle of the seasons. The island she arrives at is Cyprus, or Citharea.

The breath of Zephyrus was believed to have the power to fertilise and create new life. His embrace with the nymph symbolises the act of love.