Renaissance and Sandro Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli, one of the most famous painters from the early Italian renaissance period, painted many works involving Madonna and Venus including roses as a way to signify their beauty. His works The birth of Venus and Primavera, show one of the earliest depictions of Venus with roses.

In The Birth of Venus, she is shown to be emerging from her scallop shell, and roses are seen blowing away from her. It is theorized that the figures around her are nymphs of spring flowers, Chloris (Greek) and Flora (Roman). Primavera shows many religious figures dancing around Venus, the centerpiece, with roses scattered around the ground by Chloris. Venus is strongly associated with the spring, because of her ties to romance and fertility. It is through the connection of Venus to spring, that creates the foundations of the connection of the rose to romance.

Madonna of the Rose Garden is another painting by Botticelli, this time of the Virgin Mary in front of a Rose Garden holding baby Jesus. The Virgin Mary is considered one of,if not the most beautiful women in Christianity. The rose being present is a reflection of her beauty. Her motherhood connects us to roses being gifted for mothers day, and becoming an overall reflection of appreciating femininity as a whole, rather than purely romantic.

Rose still lifes were particularly popular amongst artists in the mid 1800’s through the 1900’s. Significantly:

• Georgia O'Keeffe, Abstraction White Rose, 1927
• Claude Monet, The House Among Roses, 1925
• Pablo Picasso, Boy with a Pipe, 1905
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vase of Roses, 1890-1900
• Vincent Van Gogh, Still Life: Vase with Pink Roses, 1890