Neo-Platonism is a prevalent theme through all of the artists we discussed in class today. Botticelli, Leonardo, and Raphael all combine the resurgence of Plato’s ideas with the humanism popular at the time. Botticelli’s Birth of Venus sees a very interesting example of female nudity that is neither moral nor erotic–it embodies the ideal of nudity as an aesthetic form. That ideal is precisely what Plato was always harping on–he believed there was literally a perfect, ideal form of anything that existed in the material world in a separate, ephemeral realm. Botticelli doesn’t say all of that with his Venus, but Neo-Platonism leaves behind much of Plato’s peculiars while it adapts itself to Christian thought.
Leonardo da Vinci made a concoction out of Neo-Platonism and Humanism with his relentless focus on systems, patterns, and structures in nature. His problem solving focus reeks of idealism–what is most interesting about the world lies in the idea and structure of it. That said, so much of his work focuses on the humanity of the world, and human virtues.