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.

The cornflower, appearing in the scene, is linked to the nymph Chloris's transformation into Flora (the goddess of flowers). As the flower blooms in May, it is believed to represent the month of the intended wedding, and is part of the lush, symbolic landscape in the Medici family orange grove.