Interpreting the Visual Evidence
The Blending of Classical and Christian
The paintings known today
as The Birth of Venus
(image A) and The
Madonna of the Pomegranate
(image B) were
both executed by Boticelli in Florence
between the years 1485–87. Separately
and together, they exhibit the artist's
signature devotion to blending classical
and Christian motifs by using ideas
associated with the pagan past to illuminate
sacred stories. For example, Neoplatonic
philosophers like Ficino taught
that all pagan myths prefigure Christian
truths—including the story that Aphrodite,
goddess of love, was miraculously
engendered from the foam of the sea
by the god of Time. This also helps to explain the visual reference to a pomegranate
in the painting of the Virgin
holding the infant Jesus. In Greek mythology,
the pomegranate was the fruit
whose seeds were eaten by Persephone,
daughter of the goddess of fertility, when
she was sent to the Underworld to
become the bride of Hades. Because
she had eaten six of these seeds, Persephone
was allowed to return to her
mother Demeter for only part of the
year; in the winter months, consequently,
the Earth becomes less fertile, because
Demeter is in mourning for her child.
Images
Questions for Analysis
| 1. fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d Scholars have recently argued that The
Birth of Venus is an allegory of Christian
love that also prefigures the Blessed
Virgin’s immaculate conception and
sinless nature. How would you go
about proving this? What elements in
this painting and in the myth of Aphrodite’s
birth lend themselves to that
interpretation? |
|
| 2. fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d In what ways can the cyclical story of
Jesus’ death and resurrection, which
Christians celebrate each year, be linked
to the Greek myth invoked by The
Madonna of the Pomegranate? |
|
| 3. fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d Like many artists, Botticelli used the
same models for an array of different
pictures. Do you recognize the resemblance
between the Virgin and Venus?
How does the depiction of the same
young woman in these two different
contexts underscore the relationship
between pagan mythology and Christian
sacred history? |
|
Submit to Gradebook: