In ancient Greek mythology, there was a goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. She is also the goddess who rules the seas. Better known is her alias in Roman stories, Venus. According to legend, Venus was the most beautiful of the many Greco-Roman goddesses and has always been depicted by the most artists.
Venus was born at sea. In Greek mythology, the god Zeus, at the behest of his mother Gaia, cut off the genitals of his father Uranos and threw them into the sea. After a long period of rafting, it becomes a blister as white as snow. It was from this blister that Venus was born. There are many historical paintings based on this Greek myth. The most famous of these are the three works by Botticelli, Alexander Cabanell and William Adolf Bouguerre.
Botticelli completed the tempera painting "The Birth of Venus" in 1485. The painting is 280x180 cm in size and is now in the collection of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The painting depicts the birth of Venus on the Aegean Sea. The newborn goddess stood barefoot on a shell, and it was from here that she was born. In classical times, the shell was a symbol of the female reproductive organs. She seemed a little shy, her hands in front of her body. The gods of flowers and winds sent her to milos island with a breeze, and hera, the goddess of the forest, hurriedly draped her with clothes made of flowers. The time seems to be in the early morning, and the atmosphere is quiet and leisurely.
The goddess has a beautiful posture, but her expression is somewhat sad and confused. She lives in the middle of the picture, surrounded by the goddess of flowers, the god of the wind and the goddess of the forest, forming a picture frame. There are many contrasts in the picture. The man's body and the woman's body, the beautiful posture and sad look of the goddess, the nakedness of the goddess and the dress of the goddess of the wind, the god of flowers, and the goddess of the forest, many contrasts make the picture more beautiful rhythm. The image of Venus was later hailed as the epitome of the Renaissance spirit.
The French academic painter Alexandre Cabanel completed the Birth of Venus in 1863 as an oil on canvas painting measuring 225x130 cm and now in the Musée d'Orsay. In the painting, the goddess Venus is lying naked on the sea, with a charming and lazy posture, and there is some temptation. The little god of love flutters over the goddess, and the whole picture is brightly colored, giving people a feeling of joy. At the Paris Salon in 1863, Napoleon III bought Cabanel's Birth of Venus, which made the painting and its author famous. But as Impressionism became the dominant art style, critics criticized Cabanel's academic work, such as "painting a pink, smooth, debauched nude" and so on.
Bouguerre's Birth of Venus is more realistic than the previous two. The goddess stands on a shell, surrounded by men, women and children with conch trumpets. A small god of love in the sky surrounds the goddess. Bouguero realistically realizes the goddess and gives people a sense of closeness. At the same time, the use of romantic treatment connects man and god, sky and sea, giving people a romantic beauty.
In addition, other painters have also created many works based on the birth of Venus.
For example, the French painter Jean-Leon Jerome, who was in Bouguereau's contemporaneous period, wrote "The Birth of Venus" in 1890.
Another example is the French painter François Boucher's Rococo-style "Birth of Venus" in 1750.
Also like the French Symbolist painter Audiron Redon's 1912 series of paintings.
This series of works by Audion Redon is more of a bizarre and dreamy color.