Primavera (springtime) was painted in Renaissance Italy around 1480 by the artist Sandro Botticelli. It’s quite a large piece, almost life size, measuring 2.03m by 3.14m.
If you want to view in person, you will need to visit the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. If that’s not possible, a high resolution digital image (above) is the best way to make sure you see all the smaller elements in the painting.
Experts have debated for centuries what exactly is going on. A celebration of love and spring is the most popular, hence its other name: Allegory of Spring. Set in a garden full of lush growth with flowers everywhere, this and the array of mythological characters tell a story of renewal.
Primavera shows Venus, the roman goddess of love, presiding over the party with her son Cupid hovering overhead shooting love arrows. Mercury, the messenger to the gods, is on the far left and he is either gay or pretending to ignore the trio of dancers known as the Three Graces behind him. On the right side is a rather blue looking guy called Zephyrus or god of the west wind. He is about to embrace (and pollinate) a rather startled looking nymph with flowers dropping from her mouth. In doing so, he miraculously turns her into Flora (the next one along), the goddess of flowers and spring. After her transformation she appears calmer and can be seen strewing more flowers about the place.
The vegetative elements are so ubiquitous and detailed that the artwork has been described as less high culture and more horticulture. Those that have bothered to count, say that the meadow has over 500 individual flowers; each one uniquely painted.
The species count is less clear. Numbers vary from 170 to 200 in different accounts of the painting. No one seems certain as to the fruit either – oranges, pomegranates and golden apples are all mentioned as possibles.
Could that be possibly be Leucanthemum vulgare?
Wikipedia cites Gloria Fossi and Elena Capretti as its source for plant numbers.
In Fossi’s book Primavera she writes:
“On the flowered lawn we can recognise over one hundred and ninety different botanical species. At least one hundred and thirty of them are real such as the daises, buttercups, corn-flowers, poppies, violets, small chrysanthemums, crocuses, irises, lilies, jasmine and forget-me-nots.”
What does she mean by ‘real’ if they are not real how can they be botanical species?
She goes on..
“The species of flowers are not always depicted with their natural leaves-reality and fantasy…”
Is she saying some are real species and others are Botticelli’s own fantasy hybrid species?
Capretti in her book Botticelli writes:
“The painting shows around 500 recognised species of plants; around 190 are flowering plants. It is a botanic representation of the vegetation growing around Florence between March and May.”
All plants depicted are flowering plants you would think, I don’t think Botticelli, as good as he was, tackled Bryophyta. So maybe she means currently in flower rather than just with vegetative parts.
Another online source (since removed) reports “Mirella Levi D’Ancona (1992)… performed a meticulous and painstaking identification of the vegetable species present”. Plant Curator tries to find this book or paper online, but to no avail. UPDATE 2022: This book is in print (thank you to person who commented) for anyone who wants to explore further.
Jonathan Jones for the Guardian writes:
“The painting teems with life: the myriad shades of the flowers in the dark grass have been analysed by botanists, who identified 200 accurately depicted plants.” No source unfortunately. Who are these botanists and where is the species list.
Primavera predates Linnaeus by a significant period, so additional investigation into local plant nomenclature of 15th-century Florence is needed. It raises the question: why did Botticelli depict some real flowers while inventing others? One possibility is that the unfamiliar plants have since become extinct over the past 500 years. If anyone possesses an more complete species list for La Primavera, Plant Curator would love to see it.
Primavera is magic, it has mystery and most importantly it has lots and lots of plants.
Great post, wish I could nip off to Florence to check out the numbers for myself, but sadly, work does not permit! I assume Botticelli was quite capable of making up or embellishing plant species just as he was with his mythical human figures, but the tree blossom looks convincingly orange blossom to my eye. Equally some of the herbaceous species look identifiable, Daisy (Bellis perennnis) for example as mentioned in your post. Others are less clear. I can see what looks like Dandelion heads (Taraxacum spp), but the leaves are quite wrong, so maybe it’s something else or maybe it is a Botticelli “hybrid”! But as far as numbers of species go, if there are indeed 500 individual flowers painted, then I would be very surprised if the total number of species is even in the 100s as there are numerous duplicates. Personally I would have put it around 50 max, but delighted to be proved wrong, and whoever sorts it will well deserve to sip on their expresso in Piazza della Signoria in the evening sunlight! Dr M
Loved plant curator’s foray into the flower field of La Primavera and mythical references to springtime transformations.
Levi D’ Ancona, Mirella. Boticell’s Primavera: A Botanical Interpretation. Firenze: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1983.
[…] La Primavera hangs in the room opposite and is said to represent perfection in proportion in every facet of its composure. Another massive painting that fills your field of view from 20 feet away and as you move in closer continues to reveal more and more complexity right down to the over 500 individual plants, 190 of which are flowering plants. […]