On this sunny Sunday evening I’d like to share a few thoughts I had in relation to Venus. I was reading an interesting article about the Vespucci artistic commissions written by Cristina Acidini Luchinat for the periodical Navigatori Toscani published by the association “Comitato Amerigo Vespucci a Casa Sua”. Among the other paintings that are today connected with the Vespucci, the text mentioned Botticelli’s Venus and Mars wondering if Venus could be taken as an allegory of Peace. According to the writer this interpretation would well fit into the 1480s socio-historical background: after the Pazzi conspiracy, when Florence sought peace and stability. Acidini Luchinat supports her ideas saying that since Ambrogio Lorenzetti Peace was represented as a woman dressed in white, without shoes, reclining on the side with one elbow on a cushion. Through a quick online research (Google, what would I do without you??) I located a second image representing a personification of Peace pretty much identical to Botticelli’s Venus and Lorenzetti’s Peace.
Now, this Venus-Peace hypothesis is fascinating and it might worth following it up to see if it leads anywhere. First thing first is trying to locate other images where Peace is represented in such a way. Does anyone know of similar images?
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