Allegory of Spring

Description

La Primavera, Botticelli's famous allegory of spring, has a mythological significance. It depicts the arrival of spring. A woman wearing oranges is the goddess of love, and the landscape is rich with vegetation, symbolizing the growing season. During the Medici family's heyday in Florence, the Medici family tended to have an orange grove. The lush growth of the vegetation indicates springtime, and the artist may have been inspired by the work of Ovid and Poliziano. Neoplatonic ideas of love may have also influenced Botticelli's art.

While scholars disagree on the exact meaning of Allegory of Spring, most agree that it is a beautiful painting with an intriguing story. Whether the painting is a pagan ritual, a feast to celebrate Spring, or a poetic ode, Botticelli's work is a work of art that has many interpretations. One of these is that it represents the benevolence of man, which is a common theme in humanistic paintings. 

Botticelli's Primavera has proven to be quite problematic in terms of its subject matter and patronage. While mistaken assumptions have been perpetuated in modern scholarly literature, recent studies on women and art have provided the necessary information for scholars to gain deeper insight into Renaissance life, an understanding that includes the role of women in such activities as art patronage and marriage negotiations. Consequently, Botticelli's Primavera can now be seen in a new light, one that recognizes it as a work that speaks of a mother who wanted to give to her daughter a perpetual visual reminder of the social standing of the family she left behind.