DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31769#0093
flower that blooms in the spring. According to legend,
this flower only opens when the wind blows. 7^ The in-
clusion of an anemone at the feet of the Hora is there-
fore wholly intentional, for there is indeed a stiff breeze
coming from Zephyrus and his compamon. The strong
wind has brought with lt the rose blossoms, which, as
we have already shown, bloomed when the goddess of
love reached the shore. Thus with the inclusion of an
anemone, Botticelli once again underlines the fact that
this is the arrival of Venus.
As before in La Primavera, here too Botticelli’s com-
position is precisely calculated. The artist did not in-
clude an anemone by chance any more than he included
the orange trees, or a further detail which has yet to be
satisfactorily interpreted and, therefore, particularly
worthy of our attention. In the lower left corner, where
the sea extends to the picture edge as well as washing up
against the shore, there are a number of plants, typha lati-
folia to be botanically precise (known in those days as
arundo). In English their common name is bulrush. The
rushes in the picture bear a total of four cobs, fruits, or
seed pods, as botanists would say, filled with seeds of
the plant which are carried away by the wind when the
cobs burst open. By this means they are scattered across
land and sea — hence the underlying idea of nature
which, in this way, sees to the reproduction of the bul-
rush. It should, however, perhaps be said that this plant
type actually has no place at the seashore. Bulrushes are
fresh-water plants; they thrive in inland waters or, if
need be, in stagnant water, but under no circumstances
in the salty sea-water from which Venus was born and
which surrounds her in Botticelli’s painting as she ap-
proaches the shore. Some explanation is needed for this
botanical displacement; especially since the otherwise
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this flower only opens when the wind blows. 7^ The in-
clusion of an anemone at the feet of the Hora is there-
fore wholly intentional, for there is indeed a stiff breeze
coming from Zephyrus and his compamon. The strong
wind has brought with lt the rose blossoms, which, as
we have already shown, bloomed when the goddess of
love reached the shore. Thus with the inclusion of an
anemone, Botticelli once again underlines the fact that
this is the arrival of Venus.
As before in La Primavera, here too Botticelli’s com-
position is precisely calculated. The artist did not in-
clude an anemone by chance any more than he included
the orange trees, or a further detail which has yet to be
satisfactorily interpreted and, therefore, particularly
worthy of our attention. In the lower left corner, where
the sea extends to the picture edge as well as washing up
against the shore, there are a number of plants, typha lati-
folia to be botanically precise (known in those days as
arundo). In English their common name is bulrush. The
rushes in the picture bear a total of four cobs, fruits, or
seed pods, as botanists would say, filled with seeds of
the plant which are carried away by the wind when the
cobs burst open. By this means they are scattered across
land and sea — hence the underlying idea of nature
which, in this way, sees to the reproduction of the bul-
rush. It should, however, perhaps be said that this plant
type actually has no place at the seashore. Bulrushes are
fresh-water plants; they thrive in inland waters or, if
need be, in stagnant water, but under no circumstances
in the salty sea-water from which Venus was born and
which surrounds her in Botticelli’s painting as she ap-
proaches the shore. Some explanation is needed for this
botanical displacement; especially since the otherwise
94