Birth of venus

Birth of Venus
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ART 111
Kayce Anderson
Writing Assignment #8

The work that I have chosen from Chapter 19 is Thomas Cole’s The Oxbow (Connecticut River near Northampton) (1836) on page 462.
Principles of Design:
• The focal point of the painting is the sun-drenched valley and river. The emphasis comes from the diagonal of the tree to the left that directs the view of the scene down the valley toward the farmland.
• Vertical balance can be seen with the firm horizon line that separates a bleak landscape with a bleaker sky, where most of the visual weight in the composition occurs in the lower half of the painting.
Formal Elements:
• The artist uses lines to outline forms and evoke movement.
Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus.

The Birth of Venus painted by Sandro Botticelli from 1484-1486, depicts the birth of Venus into the world. The painting shows Venus the goddess of love and beauty coming out of the sea as if she was coming into the human world as a beautiful woman. She is nude in the painting covering one of her breasts with her right hand, her left hand holding her long blonde hair, which covers her pubic region. The nudity of Venus in this painting shows not the humility of the naked body but the exotericism of the female body. There are three other figures in the painting, two intertwined figures on the left side and a woman on the right standing on the shoreline. The woman on the shoreline is someone who is devoted to the goddess ready for her rebirth with a beautiful robe. The figures on the left are winged figures female and male their hair being blown back showing a sense of movement. They are blowing wind out of their mouths bringing a breeze to Venus that will move her from her shell to shores of land showing her birth into the human world. The female figure has her legs wrapped around the male figure in a way that seems almost impossible in real life.

Botticelli uses very linear lines in the birth of Venus all of the figures are on same plan going from one end to the other giving the painting a very linear feel. The lines of figures show movement in a very graceful way.