Nascita di Venere (The Birth of Venus), by Sandro Botticelli, 1484/1486
Many commentaries of Sandro Botticelli‘s painting of Venus describe the painting as one that invites us, in viewing physical beauty, to see spiritual beauty. It is perhaps inspired by this Homeric Hymn:
“Of august gold-wreathed and beautiful Aphrodite I shall sing to whose domain belong the battlements of all sea-loved Cyprus where, blown by the moist breath of Zephyros, she was carried over the waves of the resounding sea on soft foam. The gold-filleted Horae happily welcomed her and clothed her with heavenly raiment.”
Robert Barron References this Painting [click to read]
Dante and Beatrice
Henry George Alexander Holiday, 1882 - 1884
The painting is inspired by the autobiography Vita Nuova of the medieval poet Dante (1265-1321).
Robert Barron References this Painting [click to read]