DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31769#0057
separated from either spiritual beauty nor, consequently,
from virtuous behaviour. This ideal of virtue is seen per-
sonified in the Three Graces in Botticelli’s La Primavera.
Flora: Tree of Plentyfor the Medici Family
The allusions to marriage in La Primavera and its literary
sources of course go hand-in-hand with the bride’s de-
sire for fertility and children. Accordingly, the theme of
fertility is not only expressed in the numerous blossoms
and ripe oranges in the painting, but also in the figure of
Flora, who is scattenng white and red roses from a low
fold in the front of her dress — a clear reference to the
progeny to be expected from her womb. In addition to
these general refèrences to fèrtility, procreation, and pro-
geny, there is yet another iconographic element which
once again underlmes this pamting’s fimction as a wed-
ding picture. Flora’s exact position in the painting is by
no means a matter of chance, for — having just been
transformed mto the goddess of spring — she is step-
ping forward but has stopped at a particular moment.
Her left leg is almost stationary and, together with her
slender body, forms a vertical which runs from her left
foot on the ground right up through the tree behind her.
This direct vertical lmk — a kind of oneness — be-
tween the figure and the tree is unusual and certainly
unique in Botticelli’s work. Any thoughts of an acciden-
tal union of figure and tree may be readily dismissed, for
the whole effect of La Primavera relies on the care with
which the artist lavished on every last detail, mcludmg an
orange tree (citrus aurantiunLj which bears both blossoms
and fruit. In fifteenth-century Florence oranges were
known as mala medica or palle medicee: symbols of the
5 6
from virtuous behaviour. This ideal of virtue is seen per-
sonified in the Three Graces in Botticelli’s La Primavera.
Flora: Tree of Plentyfor the Medici Family
The allusions to marriage in La Primavera and its literary
sources of course go hand-in-hand with the bride’s de-
sire for fertility and children. Accordingly, the theme of
fertility is not only expressed in the numerous blossoms
and ripe oranges in the painting, but also in the figure of
Flora, who is scattenng white and red roses from a low
fold in the front of her dress — a clear reference to the
progeny to be expected from her womb. In addition to
these general refèrences to fèrtility, procreation, and pro-
geny, there is yet another iconographic element which
once again underlmes this pamting’s fimction as a wed-
ding picture. Flora’s exact position in the painting is by
no means a matter of chance, for — having just been
transformed mto the goddess of spring — she is step-
ping forward but has stopped at a particular moment.
Her left leg is almost stationary and, together with her
slender body, forms a vertical which runs from her left
foot on the ground right up through the tree behind her.
This direct vertical lmk — a kind of oneness — be-
tween the figure and the tree is unusual and certainly
unique in Botticelli’s work. Any thoughts of an acciden-
tal union of figure and tree may be readily dismissed, for
the whole effect of La Primavera relies on the care with
which the artist lavished on every last detail, mcludmg an
orange tree (citrus aurantiunLj which bears both blossoms
and fruit. In fifteenth-century Florence oranges were
known as mala medica or palle medicee: symbols of the
5 6