10 Paintings: Sandro Botticelli Quiz

Answer: She was blown by the wind.

In "The Birth of Venus," we can see the Greek god Zephyr blowing at the goddess, sending her to the shore. The woman he holds is believed either to be Aura (a representation of light breeze), or Chloris, a flower nymph that Zephyr had married. The woman to the right holding some kind of cloak is the Hora of Spring. The Horae were the goddesses of the seasons and represented certain periods of time.

Botticelli used the Venus Pudica (Venus of Modesty) pose in his painting, meaning that the goddess is covering her sensitive areas with her hands. Female nudity was not exactly forbidden in paintings up until Botticelli had painted "The Birth of Venus", but to have the central figure be a female nude was rare. Sculptures, being singular figures, were very popular in antiquity, and Botticelli used these classical sculptures from the Greeks as a guide.

Answer: Medici

Sandro Botticelli, having lived in Florence his entire life, was well-connected, and this meant that he knew the Medici family intimately. Some of his works were commissioned by the family, though this particular painting was commissioned instead by Gaspare di Zanobi del Lama, a financial agent of the Medici, who wanted the painting for his own funerary chapel.

Botticelli was said to have included Gaspare in the painting, the man to the right with white hair. He was also said to have included himself, the blonde man with the yellow cloak. However, it is the fact that he included the Medicis as the magi that tends to grab the most attention with the painting. Gaspare may have wanted to gain favor by including the Medici family members, or the decision may have been Botticelli's. Either way, the inclusion of the rich merchant family's venerated members was purposeful and carried out with precision and care.

Answer: slander

Calumny, which is the spreading of false statements to destroy another's reputation, carries a burning torch to represent the fact that they want to destroy the half-naked man. The characters Fraud and Perfidy arrange Calumny's hair into something elegant and presentable. Rancor, dressed in a black cloak, tries to obscure the king's real view of the victim.

In the rear, Repentance stands in black, the only character in the painting who looks at Truth, the female nude who is pointing to the heavens. Flanking the king are Ignorance and Suspicion, who whisper into his ears, influencing him. The king himself has the donkey ears of King Midas, which represent foolishness.

The painting by Apelles of Kos was believed to have been created after he was slandered by another, and his king originally believed the rumors.

Answer: Botticelli copied another artist's painting of the saint.

The image of the saint in the roundel was believed to have been originally painted by Bartolomeo Bulgarini as many as one hundred years before Botticelli was born. Botticelli copied the other's painting into his own. The style of the painting in the roundel is decidedly different from most Renaissance artworks, as can be determined by Botticelli's painting around it.

Though the identity of the subject is unknown, many suspect that it belonged to a member of the Medici family, as Botticelli had close ties to them.

Answer: Primavera

Along with "The Birth of Venus", Botticelli's "Primavera" is among his most famous paintings, though this work is much more of an enigma than his other. For centuries, it has been studied and analyzed for clues that can help decipher its meaning. The mythological figures included are related to spring ("primavera" in Italian), though there is no exact scene in Greek mythology that the painting depicts.

After intensive studies, it was determined that the painting contains over 500 different plant species and over 100 different types of flowers. Clearly, the time and effort Botticelli spent studying different plants helped make "Primavera" a masterpiece.

Answer: a prayer book

The "Horae Beatae Mariae Virginis" was a book of hours, a type of prayer book created for the layman to read. Books of hours were written in Latin, though they contained illustrations, some as simple as fanciful letters and others decked out in intricate, colored illustrations.

"Madonna of the Book" is chock-full of Christian iconography, though perhaps the most obvious and poignant are the baby Jesus' belongings, a thorned crown around his wrist and three nails held in his hand.

Answer: Minerva

The "Pallas" epithet used in the name "Pallas Athena" has several backstories, but perhaps the most popular is that Pallas was the name of a friend of Athena's from her youth, a child of Triton. After accidentally killing her friend in a sparring match, she took her name as part of her own.

In Botticelli's painting, Pallas is a representation of reason while the centaur is a representation of lust and promiscuity, which was common in Greek mythology. One theme of the painting is said to be the submission of passion to reason. Pallas is decked out in Medici symbols, and the painting contains other visual puns related to Lorenzo de' Medici.

Answer: False

Cosimo the Elder was in fact a member of the wealthy Medici family who first established them as a political powerhouse in Florence. The identity of the young man holding the medal of Cosimo is unknown.

While the Medici family was quite connected to the Papacy (they produced four popes), Cosimo was not amongst them. At one point, it was even rumored that the leader accompanied Antipope John XXIII during the Western Schism.

Answer: satyrs

The satyrs that play around the couple seem to be making trouble. One tries to wake Mars, but he is passed out, a sly reference to medieval jokes in which males fall asleep after making love. The painting offers a more domestic scene than Botticelli's other paintings featuring Venus, and indeed she is fully dressed. Several other symbols, such as myrtle, hint at marriage, and it is believed that Botticelli probably created the painting for a wedding ceremony.

Answer: Lucretia

"The Tragedy of Lucretia" shows the events of her death in three parts. To the left, we see Lucretia being threatened by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the last king of Rome. To the right, Lucretia has been raped by Sextus, and as a result she commits suicide in front of her family and friends. In the center, Lucretia's body lays in state as the public uses her death to end the monarchy in Rome, starting the Roman Republic.

The painting is known as an example of syncretism, which is a combination of different belief systems into one body. In this work, Botticelli combines the legendary and historical founding of the Roman Republic with Christian stories. The additions of David and Goliath along with Judith and Holofernes add contemporary commentary to the historical events of the painting.