Similarities Between The Birth Of Venus And Judith Beheading Holofernes

For this writing assignment we had to choose 2 different paintings form either different regions and different time periods, I choose “The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli and “Judith Beheading Holofernes” by Michelangelo Caravaggio.

Both of the artists lived similar yet very different lives which influenced their works greatly. Sandro Botticelli the artist behind “The Birth of Venus” was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance born in Florence during the mid 1400s, about 1450. Botticelli started art apprenticing in goldsmithing and then started his painting with a master painter, Filippo Lippi. His counterpart Michelangelo Caravaggio the artist behind “Judith Beheading Holofernes” was also an Italian painter, however Caravaggio

being born in 1571 in Port’Ercole, Italy and dying in 1610 is an artist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque era but mostly being known for his baroque works like “Judith Beheading Holofernes”.
Surprisingly the two very famous artworks don’t have very ordinary histories.

“The Birth of Venus” is estimated to have been made in the mid 1480s, patronized by the extremely wealthy and dominant Medici family.Without a doubt the Medici family was one of the most influential dynasty of their time, which started in Florence, Italy during the first half of the 15th Century; they affected government politics, religion, and art which they affected the most and had a very long lasting effect on. “The Birth of Venus” is currently located in the “Uffizi Gallery”, a complex made by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 for Cosimo 1 de’ Medici to accomodate for the offices of the Florentine magistrates, which is how it inherited its name; uffizi meaning offices. The Uffizi Gallery was finished in 1581 becoming a gallery for family and friends of the Vasari; although it was made for private viewing it later became a public museum between the 18th and 19th century. The museum holding “The Birth of Venus” were both commissioned by the same patron, the Medici family and hangs as a tourist attraction along with many other paintings paid for by the praiseworthy Medici family. A little more than 110 years later Caravaggio would create one of his masterpieces “Judith Beheading Holofernes”, similarly to Botticelli, Caravaggio was patronized by the same person or group for large part of his lengthy career. His patron, Cardinal del Monte was an Italian Cardinal and diplomat who all throughout the 1500s

desired and worked towards being the highest entity in the Catholic church, the Pope. Del Monte was an devoted art lover and is best well known for being the patron of one of the earliest Baroque artists. Being an passionate art lover Del Monte’s collection contained nearly 600 pieces upon his death, distinctly containing a large number of Caravaggio's work. Currently “Judith Beheading Holofernes” is currently located in the “Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica (GNAA)” also known as the “National Gallery of Ancient Art” a popular art gallery in Rome, Italy. The GNAA is located on two sites, the “Palazzo Barberini” or the “Barberini Palace” and also the “Palazzo Corsini” or in english the “Corsini Palace”; both locations were created for the family of two high ranking church members. Although the Ancient Art Gallery holding multiple of Caravaggio's works was created after the “Uffizi Gallery” it has a large and very awe inspiring collection including “Judith Beheading Holofernes”.
The artwork by Botticelli shows the bearing of Venus (Aphrodite) being born from the sea after her conception by her mother, Dione and father, Jupiter (Zeus).

In the scene of her art work it shows Venus arriving at the shore after her birth a fully grown adult. In the center of the artwork is the newly-born goddess Venus who is standing in the bare atop a giant scallop shell. In the story of her birth, Venus’s scallop is there but it’s size is not described however in the artwork the scallop is huge as anything a human-like being can ride on must be. Hovering above the waves to the left of Venus is a wind god, called a Zephyr who is blowing air along with a young female who the Zephyr is carrying even though they both have wings. The Zephyr is blowing a strong stream of air radiating from his mouth while his female companion is blowing less forcefully helping the Zephyr propel Venus across the waves towards the shore. The original artist Vasari was most likely trying to the women as Venus’s aura, personifying it as a light breeze which is pushing her hair and flowers while the Zephyr’s stronger stream blows the scallop shell. Since the piece was made during the Renaissance era, Venus couldn’t be drawn completely showing herself off to the world, which forced Botticelli paint Venus covering her lower genitalia with her hand which is holding her hair. Unlike Venus, the female painted off to the right is clothed in a flowing dress. The female, who is one of the three Horae or

Hours, the minor Greek goddesses of the seasons and attendants of Venus, who is on shore is waiting for Venus to arrive on shore so she can cover her. The floral decoration on the female’s dress suggests that she is the Hora of Spring. Interestingly to illustrate this scene Botticelli uses a large canvas, which was increasing in popularity instead on panels. Specifically he used two larger pieces of of canvas, which are sewn together; because of his use of canvas, which is a cheaper material the original color has now faded away in multiple sections of the artwork. Fascinatingly Botticelli uses a classical pose for Venus however spices it by taking the hand positioning from Venus Pudica, a type of Greco-Roman sculptures. Venus is standing off-center with a curved body with long flowing lines, with her bodyweight not distributed evenly; she has a elongated neck and torso. Her pose is just a little inhuman which in a way is fitting on a goddess!
However in contrast in contrast “Judith Beheading Holofernes” by Caravaggio isn’t a nice lovely work of art depicting a goddesses birth. It’s a gory work of art depicting a important and intense murder from the bible. The narrative, in the deuterocanonical “Book of Judith” in chapter 13 verses seven eight, tells of Judith a strong willed woman protecting her people. According to the book, the king of Nebuchadnezzar, Nineveh sent his general Holorfens, to stop the Jew’s progress, which he quickly starts achieving, and is even faster killing the hope of the enemy. But on one night Holofernes unfortunately visits which leads to Judith seducing, pleasuring and intoxicating him for her cause, killing him for her people. Which she achieves by “Approaching to his bed, she took hold of the hair of his head” and then slicing his throat. Similarly to the other artist who painted the scene of Judith beheading Holofernes such as Botticelli, Donatello, Giorgione and Mantegna he painted a very gory scene however his is a little more dramatic than the rest. To the left of the center is Holofernes head, which is painted is great detail, his eyes looking up at Judith with surprise, his mouth open probably yelling as he was woken up to a sword in his throat, and blood which is gushing from the fatal wound in his neck. To the right of Holofernes is Judith, who has a mix of emotions hidden behind a wall of determination in her face, she seems to be prepared for to kill him but looks a little disturbed by the bloodiness of the job. Unlike Judith the elderly woman, her servant on the right of her looks very ready to have Holofernes blood on their hands, as she has a bag ready to throw his decapitated head in. Due to the time period and the nature of the piece Judith is completely clothed unlike Holofernes who is probably completely naked under the blanket cover the taboo male genitalia. The design style Carragio uses is very baroque with traces of Renaissance most likely due to the fact the the Renaissance end and the Baroque time period started during his lifetime. To portray this story Caravaggio uses oil on a canvas which is a lot harder than paint because of the amount of time oil takes to dry.
Although both artworks are extremely different they have a few similarities. For example the use of lines to point to the important part of the piece, which is Venus and Holofernes’ head, another great example of this is their use of lines that aren’t straight to point towards the target of their piece, such as the curtain above Holofernes or the tree and drapes held by the Horae to the right of Venus. Of course being from a different time period they have a few differences such as the use of light versus dark color; Carragio uses lots of dark colors in oil to convey his figuratively darker scene, contrasting Botticelli’s use of lighter paint colors to show the beauty of his scene. Although they are very different the biggest similarity between the two pieces is definitely their impact on today, they are both popular pieces recognized today!