The Birth of Venus

Born from the sea, Venus arrives on a scallop shell, blown to shore by the entwined winds amid a fall of roses, while a spring nymph hurries to wrap her in a flowered cloak. She shields herself in the antique pose of modesty, yet her body obeys grace rather than anatomy - the elongated neck, the impossibly sloping shoulders, the weightless stance all serving rhythm. Painted on canvas, rare for its day, it distills the Neoplatonism of the Medici circle: physical beauty as an image of the divine. With the Primavera, also in this collection, it forms the heart of Botticelli's mythological art.