5×7
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.

In Primavera by Sandro Botticelli, Mercury stands slightly apart from the others, positioned on the far left of the garden. He looks upward, lifting his caduceus to gently disperse the clouds, as if clearing the air itself.

He’s the intellectual presence in the scene: composed, self-contained, and almost detached from the romantic chaos unfolding behind him. While love, pursuit, and transformation animate the rest of the painting, Mercury’s gaze turns toward the sky, symbolizing reason, higher thought, and perhaps the protection of the sacred space of spring.