---
node: birth_of_venus
type: art
slug: birth_of_venus
title: "The Birth of Venus"
lead: "The Birth of Venus is Sandro Botticelli's painting of the goddess arriving at the shore on a shell, made in the mid-1480s, probably for the Medici. It hangs in the Uffizi in Florence."
published: 2026-07-11
updated: 2026-07-11
image_file: birth_of_venus.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sandro_Botticelli_-_La_nascita_di_Venere_-_Google_Art_Project_-_edited.jpg"
image_author: "Sandro Botticelli"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## Overview

Botticelli painted the work around 1484–1486, most likely for a member of the Medici family. Unusually for the time, it is tempera on canvas rather than on a wooden panel.

## Description

Venus, newly born from the sea, drifts ashore on a shell, blown by the wind god Zephyrus entwined with a nymph, while a Hora of spring waits with a flowered cloak. Botticelli favors flowing line and grace over strict anatomy — the goddess's pose echoes ancient Venus statues.

## History and legacy

It was among the first monumental mythological nudes of the Renaissance and, after centuries of relative neglect, the 19th-century revival of Botticelli made it one of the most recognized paintings in the world. It has hung in the Uffizi since the 19th century.