Allyse

Sandro Botticelli,  The Birth of Venus  (c. 1484–1486).  Tempera  on canvas. 172.5 cm × 278.9 cm (67.9 in × 109.6 in).  Uffizi , Florence The Birth of Venus , by the artist Alessandro Botticelli during the Italian Renaissance, depicts the moment when, having emerged from the sea in a shell, Venus lands at Paphos in Cyprus. Zephyrus and the breeze Aura blows her towards the shore, while a Hora of Spring stands on dry land to wrap a cloak covered with spring flowers around Venus to cover her nudity. Venus is depicted with smooth, delicate skin and golden curls. The modeling and flesh color give her the appearance of a statue, a highly regarded medium in Florence at the time. The painting depicts she is born to the world as the goddess of beauty, and we witness this act of creation through this painting. As she lifts a foot to step off her shell, the winds shower her with roses. According to mythology, the rose flowered for the first time when Venus was born, while the orange blossom on t

      One of my favorite paintings is called The Swing  by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. I was gifted a copy of this painting several years ago, and every day I look at this painting, I uncover another part of the story I had missed the times before. The original image was made with oil-based paint and was created in either 1767 or 1786 by the French Artist. The Swing  is relatively tiny compared to other works created during this time, 81 x 64.2 cm. The painting currently resides in the Wallace Collection in London, England.      One of my favorite parts of The Swing  is the amount of texture used throughout to capture the slightly erotic scene the painting captures. Fragonard uses textures to create the rose bushes the man is lying in and to separate the bushes from the dirt on the ground. He captures the surfaces of the tree and the spiraling of the rope the swing is strung up by. The statue's texture demonstrates the difference in appearance between the trees and the sky. The ruffle