Interestingly, Venus is a goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, which is significant, since she was literally created from the male genitalia, and males were more strongly linked to sexuality than females, even at that point in Roman history. In the rest of Roman and Greek mythology, Venus/Aphrodite generally plays a benevolent role, though she does use influence women to use their sexuality in inappropriate ways, such as the

This may also be an indication of the struggle within the artist. (Botticelli, Sandro: The Mystical Nativity) The works of Botticelli were to become less fashionable and popular with the development of the Renaissance. He was to die virtually unknown in the art world. However in the 19th century Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelites once again recognized his genius and his paintings again assumed a prominent position in the history of

Botticelli's Birth Of Venus And Duccio's Maesta The representation of women in Western art has changed throughout history, and for much of Western history this representation was oriented around the dominant female figure in contemporary society; that is, Mary, mother of Jesus. However, the gradual shift away from a dominantly monotheistic cultural hegemony seen in the Renaissance and eventually the Enlightenment brought with it new (and the case of this study,

Sandro Botticelli Italian painter Sandro Botticelli was one of the foremost talked-about artists during the early Italian Renaissance, well-known for his portrayal of the female figure. Even throughout the changes of his subjects -- from the whimsical pagan mythologies to the reverent Christian ideologies -- Botticelli was a master of his art. His personalized style was captured in each work, all elegantly executed on canvas with the influence of his patrons

In his attempt to paint the goddess, the Renaissance painter inspired from the mythological legend of Venus's birth. The Roman Goddess of love apparently emerged out of the sea as a result of a foam formed around Uranus's genitals that had just been cut by his son, Cronus. Cronus apparently did so in order to get revenge, since his father treated him very cruelly (Deimling 52). Botticelli focused on emphasizing

Some have speculated that the work may have been commissioned by one of those families, and that the work was stored in a private residence, as opposed to being on display (the Birth, No date). In its historical context, Birth of Venus is important because it gives us a glimpse into the Italian psychology at the time. The painting shows that even as the church tried to exert total influence