3 × 3
Oil on Canvas
The Double Botticelli Study Series (Valentines Day)

Working from studies of Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Primavera, I translated these iconic compositions into a series of rose-tinted underpaintings. The blush ground acts as both atmosphere and pulse, allowing the figures to emerge through warmth rather than line alone. By filtering these Renaissance allegories through a contemporary lens, and timed with Valentine’s Day and Botticelli’s (and mine) birthday on March 1, I aim to soften their mythology into something intimate and immediate. The works become studies not only of Botticelli’s forms, but love as renewal, love as a return, and as love to be a source of inspiration.

The goddess's eyes are depicted with a "cool distance" and a sense of "melancholy," appearing unapproachable and deep in thought. While her gaze is often interpreted as innocent, she also exudes an air of detached, divine serenity, reflecting the painting's themes of idealized, Neo-Platonic beauty.