Primavera

Italian artist Sandro Botticelli painted this Primavera (Spring) around 1482 for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici. The scene shows mythological figures in an orange grove: Venus at center, the Three Graces dancing, Mercury dispersing clouds, and Flora scattering flowers. At right, the wind god Zephyrus pursues the nymph Chloris, who transforms into Flora.

Over 500 plant species appear in this painting, many identifiable to botanists. The flowering meadow and orange grove create an eternal springtime where classical gods embody humanist ideals of love, beauty, and civilization. Scholars have proposed numerous interpretations, from Neoplatonic philosophy to marriage celebration.

The Uffizi displays Primavera alongside the Birth of Venus in its Botticelli room. Together they represent the peak of Renaissance mythological painting.