In Tuesday’s class we discussed Botticelli’s Primavera, a magnificent work painted for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’Medici. The work was commissioned for Lorenzo’s wedding, and has lots of references to all the aspects of a strong marriage. Its rich floral design is almost reminiscent of a tapestry and really envelops the viewer into the garden of Venus, which is eternally in spring. The Zephyr at the far right of the painting represents a gentle wind, which blows the beautiful scents of the orange trees and flowers around and creates really perfect weather. In this painting, Venus is representing love in the context of marriage (as opposed to lust), and therefore her clothes are adorned with pearls (representing purity) and flames (representing the flames of love and St. Lawrence, a play on Lorenzo, the name of the man who commissioned the work). We also see the Cupid, her son with Mercury, the god of messengers, thieves, merchants, and eloquence flying above the garden. This reminds viewers that in the Renaissance, marriages was done to produce a child and to merge powerful families.