8 × 8
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

Three Graces holding hands and dancing in a circle symbolizes the continuous, uninterrupted cycle of giving, receiving, and returning benefits or kindness. Often depicted as sisters (Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia), their intertwined hands represent the interconnected nature of generosity, where a gift passed between them ultimately returns to the giver.