Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1484–1486
Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/arselectronica
Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus was the first full-length, non-religious nude since antiquity, and was made for Lorenzo de Medici. It’s claimed that the figure of the Goddess of Love is modeled after one Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci, whose favors were allegedly shared by Lorenzo and his younger brother, Giuliano. Venus is seen being blown ashore on a giant clamshell by the wind gods Zephyrus and Aura as the personification of spring awaits on land with a cloak. Unsurprisingly, Venus attracted the ire of Savonarola, the Dominican monk who led a fundamentalist crackdown on the secular tastes of the Florentines. His campaign included the infamous “Bonfire of the Vanities” of 1497, in which “profane” objects—cosmetics, artworks, books—were burned on a pyre. The Birth of Venus was itself scheduled for incineration, but somehow escaped destruction. Botticelli, though, was so freaked out by the incident that he gave up painting for a while.
Where to see the painting: In the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.
How much is the painting worth?: It sold for $92 million at auction in 2021, making it one of the most expensive works of art by an Italian Renaissance painter, according to artsy.net.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, 1871
Photograph: REX/Shutterstock/Universal History Archive
Whistler’s Mother, or Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, as it’s actually titled, speaks to the artist’s ambition to pursue art for art’s sake. James Abbott McNeill Whistler painted the work in his London studio in 1871, and in it, the formality of portraiture becomes an essay in form. Whistler’s mother Anna is pictured as one of several elements locked into an arrangement of right angles. Her severe expression fits in with the rigidity of the composition, and it’s somewhat ironic to note that despite Whistler’s formalist intentions, the painting became a symbol of motherhood.
Where can you see the painting? At the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
How much is the painting worth? It sold for $2.6 million at Christie’s in 2000, according to artsy.net
