The Birth of Venus (French: La Naissance de Vénus) is one of the most famous paintings by 19th-century painterWilliam-Adolphe Bouguereau. It depicts not the actual birth of Venus from the sea, but her transportation in a shell as a fully mature woman from the sea to Paphos in Cyprus. She is considered the epitome of the Classical Greek and Roman ideal of the female form and beauty, on par with Venus de Milo.
For Bouguereau, it is considered a tour de force. The canvas stands at just over 300 centimetres (9 feet 10 inches) high, and 218 cm (7 ft 2 in) wide. The subject matter, as well as the composition, resembles a previous rendition of this subject, Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, as well as Raphael's The Triumph of Galatea.
Description
Detail from The Nymphaeum, executed by Bouguereau in 1878. Venus' figure was enlarged from this nymph.
At the center of the painting, Venus stands nude on a scallop shell[1] being pulled by a dolphin, one of her symbols. Fifteen putti, including Cupid and his lover Psyche, and several nymphs and centaurs have gathered to witness Venus' arrival. Most of the figures are gazing at her, and two of the centaurs are blowing into conch and Triton shells, signaling her arrival.
Venus is considered to be the embodiment of feminine beauty and form, and these traits are shown in the painting.[1] Her head is tilted to one side, and her facial expression reflects that she is calm and comfortable with her nudity. She raises her arms,[2] arranging her thigh-length, brown hair, swaying elegantly in an "S" curve contrapposto, emphasizing the curves of her body.[3]
Venus' figure was enlarged from a nymph from Bouguereau's The Nymphaeum, completed in 1878, a year earlier.[3] The nymph is slightly thinner, and her breasts are fuller and more rounded. Venus' contrapposto is more intense, and her hair is also longer and lighter than the nymph's, but she arranges it almost identically.
To the uppеr-left of the painting, there is a shadow in the clouds. It appears to be the silhouette of the artist, with a head, shoulder, arm, and a raised fist that would seem to hold a paintbrush.[1]
Fantin-Latour: Around the Piano – The Corner of the Table – Homage to Delacroix – A Studio at Les Batignolles
Gauguin: Arearea – The Beautiful Angel – Breton Peasant Women – The Schuffenecker Family – Self-Portrait in a Hat – Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ – Tahitian Women on the Beach – Vairumati
Gérôme: The Cock Fight – Jerusalem – Reception of the Grand Condé at Versailles
Gervex: A Session of the Painting Jury
Glaize: The Gallic Women: Episode from the Roman Invasion
Manet: The Balcony – Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets – Blonde Woman with Bare Breasts – Bullfight – Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe – Flowers in a Crystal Vase – The Fifer – Madame Manet at the Piano – Olympia – The Port of Boulogne by Moonlight – Portrait of Clemenceau – Portrait of Emile Zola – Portrait of Marguerite de Conflans[1] – Portrait of Monsieur and Madame Manet – Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé – The Reading – A Sprig of Asparagus – The Waitress
Monet: The Artist's Garden at Giverny – A Cart on the Snowy Road at Honfleur – Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe – The Magpie – Regatta at Argenteuil – Resting Under a Lilac Bush – The Road in Front of Saint-Simeon Farm in Winter – Women in the Garden
Regnault: Summary Execution under the Moorish Kings of Granada
Renoir: Bal du moulin de la Galette – The Bathers – Dance in the City – Dance in the Country – Frédéric Bazille at his Easel – Girls at the Piano – Portrait of the Painter Claude Monet – Portrait of William Sisley – The Swing
Sisley: Avenue of Poplars near Moret-sur-Loing – The Canal du Loing – The Canal Saint-Martin – Chemin de la Machine, Louveciennes – The Forge at Marly-le-Roi – Regatta at Molesey near Hampton Court – Resting by a Stream at the Edge of the Wood – Rue de la Chaussée in Argenteuil – View of the Canal Saint-Martin – The Village of Voisins
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Media related to The Birth of Venus at Wikimedia Commons
