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The painting the Birth of Venus created by Sandro Botticelli shows the goddess Venus emerging from the sea in her clamshell[phpbay] It is believed to have been commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de'Medici for his Villa di Castello[phpbay] Others speculate that it was painted in honor of Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci, a love of both Giuliano di Piero de' Medici and the artist Botticelli, who lived in a seaside town that revered the Venus[phpbay] Those who favor this story believe that Simonetta herself was the model for Venus[phpbay]

The painting shows the story of how Venus was born of the sea and arose fully grown from its waves[phpbay] The goddess of love and beauty in the image is shown emerging from the water on her shell, propelled to shore by the Zephyrs (spiritual passion symbols)[phpbay] A Horae or goddess of the season is with her, handing Venus a cloak[phpbay] The images are more pagan in theme than the Roman Catholicism that was popular in the art world at the time[phpbay] Botticelli was allowed to make this break due to a close friendship with Lorenzo de Medici, who protected him from the church's disapproval and saved the painting from the fires of Savonarola[phpbay]

The pose of the Venus in the image is similar to that of the Medici Venus statue that was in the Medici collection at the time[phpbay] Venus was a hot subject matter during this era as France was clinging to its own statue, the Venus de Milo[phpbay] The painting was originally titled Venus Anadyomene as the latter word means "rising from the sea"[phpbay] The better known title didn't come into existence into the 19th century[phpbay] The sea shell was known to represent the vulva of a woman and was a theme that occurred throughout classical antiquity[phpbay]

Venus' proportions in the painting are somewhat off[phpbay] Her neck is too long and her sloping left shoulder does so at an angle that wouldn't be likely in real life[phpbay] She is centered in the painting and covers her nudity with her hands hand hair[phpbay] The breeze that brings her to shore lifts some of that hair[phpbay] There are rose blossoms blowing through the air[phpbay] The colors of the painting are bright pastels with Venus' bright pale skin and golden hair drawing the attention to the center[phpbay]

There are other works of art that bears the name of The Birth of Venus[phpbay] Painter Alexandre Cabanal created another take on the Venus creation story in 1863[phpbay] William-Adolphe Bouguereau created his own version of the painting in 1879[phpbay] Botticelli's version has been referenced in various forms of media[phpbay] The films Dr[phpbay] No and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen feature tributes to the painting[phpbay] In Vladimir Nabokov's book Lolita, the central character of Humbert Humbert compares his love's beauty to the goddess[phpbay] In Thomas Pynchon's book V, a character attempts to steal the painting in a representation of the attraction and destruction between the genders[phpbay] In the Vampire Chronicles by Ann Rice, a character knows Botticelli and comments on the work[phpbay]

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