A masterpiece of the
Florentine Renaissance, La Primavera depicts
a lively mythological scene of springtime. Likely commissioned by a cousin of the
Medici family to commemorate a marriage, the painting pays homage to fertility
and new life and is arguably the most popular artistic representation of the
season.
The
detail is of the nymph Chloris, who turns her head in surprise as Zephyrus, the
west wind, seizes her. The story goes that Zephyrus’ burning passion drove him
to forcefully make Chloris his wife. His fingers are seen clasping her shoulder
as the wind whips through her hair. Botticelli also draws from another tale in
which Zephyrus - in regret for his rash conduct - changes Chloris into Flora,
the Goddess of Flowers, whose arm is glimpsed to the left. The flowers spilling
from Chloris’s lips symbolize the beginning of her transformation. Ovid says
that Zephyrus presented her too with a garden of eternal springtime, in which tender
stalks, blossoms, and leaves would never die.
“It’s spring
fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want – oh,
you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your
heart ache, you want it so!”
--Mark Twain
