The Birth of Venus sources and interpretations. Many art historians who specialize in the Italian Renaissance have found Neoplatonic interpretations, of which two different versions have been articulated by Edgar Wind and Ernst Gombrich, to be the key to understanding the painting. Botticelli represented the Neoplatonic idea of divine love in the form of a nude Venus. For Plato – and so for the members of the Florentine Platonic Academy – Venus had two aspects: she was an earthly goddess who aroused humans to physical love or she was a heavenly goddess who inspired intellectual love in them. Plato further argued that contemplation of
The Story of Virginia (Botticelli) from left to right: This story is developed within a setting of classical architecture, in which the figures are agitated, painted with vibrant colors. The Story of Virginia (Botticelli) The Story of Virginia (Italian, Storie di Virginia), is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. It is a tempera on panel and measures 86 cm tall and 165 cm wide. It is currently held by the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, Italy. It is one of the last works that Botticelli made exemplifying virtue, like The Story of Lucretia. The painting has as a fundamental theme of violated honor