The Birth of Venus Roman equivalent of the Greek Chloris; in the "Primavera" Chloris is transformed into the figure of Flora next to her, following Ovid's "Fasti", but it is hard to see that such a transformation is envisaged here. However, the roses blown along with the two flying figures would be appropriate for Chloris. The subject is not strictly the "Birth of Venus", a title only given the painting in the nineteenth century (though given as the subject by Vasari), but the next scene in her story, where she arrives on land, blown by the wind. The land probably represents either Cythera or
The Story of Lucretia (Botticelli) The Story of Lucretia (Botticelli) The Tragedy of Lucretia is a tempera and oil painting on a wood "cassone" or "spalliera" panel by the Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli, painted between 1496 and 1504. Known less formally as the Botticelli Lucretia, it is housed in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Boston, Massachusetts, having been owned by Isabella Stewart Gardner in her lifetime. The picture is a syncretion of scenes from different legendary themes in different time periods that Botticelli considered related. The topic is revolt against tyranny, a popular one in the volatile Italian republics. The main scene is