DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31769#0070
Minerva and the Centaur:
An Image of Feminine Domination
Minerva and the Centaur,
c. 1482—83
While the eclectic combination of figures in Botticelli’s
La Primavera should be understood as a consequence of
the artist’s use of a variety of sources and the historical
circumstances surrounding the picture’s creation, the ele-
gance of the central figures — the Graces, Venus and
Flora — expresses the promise of the same love and
marital harmony which Ovid described as making
amends for the violence done to Chloris. This sense of
redress, from the bride’s point of view, is taken up again
in Botticelli’s Minerva ani the Centaur. This work hung
above a door, to the left of La Primavera, and was thus part
of the same furnishings and decorations in the bride’s
chamber.>4 In contrast to La Primavera, where the whole
right side of the picture is devoted to the taking of the
bride and the question of masculine dominance, Minerva
ani the Centaur portrays the taming of a male monster, in
this case a centaur. In front of a landscape, cut off to the
left by overhanging rocks, we see a hybrid creature with
the lower body of an animal and the lighter coloured
upper-body of a human being. The wildness of the rug-
ged rocks in the middle ground corresponds to the wild,
unruly appearance of the legendary being. het the centaur
— despite his bow and a quiver full of arrows — does
not seem to be harbonng warhke intentions, because his
arrows are safely in their quiver and, as we can see the
bow is slack. This fiend, turning away disconsolately
rather than displaying any overt aggression, is completely
under the control of a mythological figure, identifiable as
Mmerva, who gently holds him by a lock of his hair.
69
An Image of Feminine Domination
Minerva and the Centaur,
c. 1482—83
While the eclectic combination of figures in Botticelli’s
La Primavera should be understood as a consequence of
the artist’s use of a variety of sources and the historical
circumstances surrounding the picture’s creation, the ele-
gance of the central figures — the Graces, Venus and
Flora — expresses the promise of the same love and
marital harmony which Ovid described as making
amends for the violence done to Chloris. This sense of
redress, from the bride’s point of view, is taken up again
in Botticelli’s Minerva ani the Centaur. This work hung
above a door, to the left of La Primavera, and was thus part
of the same furnishings and decorations in the bride’s
chamber.>4 In contrast to La Primavera, where the whole
right side of the picture is devoted to the taking of the
bride and the question of masculine dominance, Minerva
ani the Centaur portrays the taming of a male monster, in
this case a centaur. In front of a landscape, cut off to the
left by overhanging rocks, we see a hybrid creature with
the lower body of an animal and the lighter coloured
upper-body of a human being. The wildness of the rug-
ged rocks in the middle ground corresponds to the wild,
unruly appearance of the legendary being. het the centaur
— despite his bow and a quiver full of arrows — does
not seem to be harbonng warhke intentions, because his
arrows are safely in their quiver and, as we can see the
bow is slack. This fiend, turning away disconsolately
rather than displaying any overt aggression, is completely
under the control of a mythological figure, identifiable as
Mmerva, who gently holds him by a lock of his hair.
69