Botticelli on the Half Shell with Sancerre or Muscadet?

Well, we have all seen it. You know, it – Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. His Venus is on T-shirts, umbrellas, notebooks, pillows and tote bags. The painting itself is quite pretty, obviously highly decorative. Wouldn’t you just love it gracing a wall in one of the vast rooms in your country home? It seems that a member of a lesser branch of the Medici family wanted just that and for a specific reason that influenced how it was painted and whom he chose to be the painter. The Medici family was enormously wealthy in the 15th century and ruled Florence as merchant princes. However, even the rich cut corners from time-to-time, and so it was with the commission for this painting and its companion, Primavera.

The rage was for tapestries, and especially for the tapestries of northern Europe. However, they were terribly expensive. What was one to do? This Medici (and it is not known exactly which one) decided to hire a painter to create beautiful scenes in large format (The Birth of Venus is 5’8” x 9’13”) to hang on the walls of Villa di Castello and take the place of one of those expensive tapestries. The perfect person to accomplish this was an artist well into his career, someone who had the Medici as a patron, and someone who had a feeling for the classical myths which had reemerged during the Renaissance. All that pointed to Sandro Botticelli.

Botticelli was known for his fine drawing skills and his beautiful female figures, most of whom had very similar faces (more on that later). The idea for the Birth of Venus was to paint a classical myth, featuring a nude woman (you could get away with that if dealing with the classics) and various attendants, all telling a story. In this painting there are actually two stories, and yes, gory as many Greek myths are, they have hopeful endings. Venus was born when Saturn castrated his father Uranus whose blood fell into the sea. However, from this hateful act, the goddess of love was born out of the churning sea foam. The charming couple on the left side of the painting are Zepherus, God of the West Wind and his companion, a nymph named Chloris. They look wonderful together, but it did not start that way. Zepherus, being a Greek god, naturally thought he could have any woman he wanted, so he forced himself on Chloris. He then fell in love with her and begged forgiveness, which she gave. That act elevated her to divinity, and she became Flora, the Goddess of Flowers and Spring. It is her incarnation as Flora that we see about to throw a flowered robe over the goddess. So we have blood, gore and bad behavior linked to the creation of goddesses. (It’s Greek to me.)

It is interesting to look at what Botticelli did with this commission. Since it would hang in a country villa, it had to be charming, eye-catching and refreshing, as well as decorative as befits one of those expensive tapestries. The main task was to create not a detailed painted replica of a tapestry but something with the decorative feel of a tapestry. It had to be large enough to cover wall space, yet still be a wall hanging not a mural. We are, because of the story, on the sea, and we see the pale green waters with very systematic, stylized white caps. Since this is a story that was to be told in tapestry, which does not have the fluidity of paint, the stylized treatment mimics the way that stories were woven in that other medium. The landscape behind the painting is minimal, again with a simplified design easily achieved in a woven picture, and not with much attention to depth of perspective. A stand of laurel trees on the right makes reference to Lorenzo de Medici (1449-1492), the magnificent patron of the arts and great patron to Botticelli. So we can say Botticelli was a good diplomat as well as a great artist.

The figures in the Birth of Venus seem almost pasted onto the front of the painting rather than integrated in any way with the background. While there is some indication of depth (the distant horizon and the land weaving in and out), frontality is a key element, as is a romanticized beauty. This we see again in Primavera, where the figures are all lined up in the foreground with a heavy stand of fruit trees just behind them. The small space of ground they stand on is almost like a stage, though the ground is painted with strewn flowers, a decorative element that one might see in a tapestry. Though Botticelli’s two paintings are quite elaborate in some ways, they could seem like detailed cartoons for the creation of tapestries. In the Birth of Venus, the figures almost dance, as Zepherus is blowing the waves and Chloris’ flowers, while Venus rides in on her scallop shell, and Flora waves the robe like a flag for the arrival of spring. You can almost hear the trumpets sound. Yet who is the image of this Venus, so pure, so innocent, covering herself modestly with her hair and standing a bit shyly off balance?

Well here she is, the face that launched tens of paintings by Botticelli (and others), Simonetta Vespucci, the official “Queen of Beauty,” an honor bestowed upon her by the people of Florence after Giuliano de Medici won a jousting tournament carrying a banner with her image as Pallas Athena, painted by Botticelli, of course. I say, of course, because of all the men who were after Simonetta (who had married into the wealthy Vespucci family when she was 15), Botticelli lived on the same street where she lived, so must have seen her often. When you look at his paintings, whether at a Greek goddess or the Virgin Mary, you see some version of Simonetta. Simonetta’s reign was short, as she died suddenly at the age of 22 in 1476, sending the whole of Florence into shock and grief. For Botticelli, was she just his muse, like Petrarch’s Laura, or was she more than that? Final interesting fact, Simonetta is buried in the Franciscan church Chiesa di Ognissanti, and Botticelli is buried at her feet.

The Birth of Venus is one of the classic beauties of the Renaissance and perhaps modeled on one of the classic beauties of Renaissance Florence. Its fresh seaside environment with a light wind blowing from Zepherus, himself, certainly can lead the mind to think of seafood delicacies and what good thing to drink along with them.

Paintings used here are in Public Domain.

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com or her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

What to Drink with Seafood, Sancerre or Muscadet?

This is Sancerre, the town and the vineyards, located on the left bank of the Loire River in the eastern part of the Loire Valley. On the opposite bank, one finds the region famous for Pouilly Fumé and Vouvray, but Sancerre is the home of the eponymous white wine made exclusively from Sauvignon Blanc grapes. Sancerre, the wine, has been described as having a lively acidity, and a flinty citrus-tinged taste, sometimes even a smoked flavor. This unique combination of taste attributes seems a good reflection of the town where the wine was born.

Sancerre, the village, seems bucolic enough, but in fact has a long contrarian history, especially involving resistance movements. During the Wars of Religion in the 1500s, the Huguenots took refuge there. In the French Revolution, those who wanted to restore the monarchy fled to Sancerre. In World War II, it was a command center for the Resistance, so that acidic, flinty, citrus quality seems to be the nature of the place in all things.

When it comes to food, Sancerre goes with most things, from roast chicken or turkey to pork chops to grilled fish like salmon, bass, and trout. It doesn’t seem to have met a vegetable it didn’t like, but goes especially well with asparagus. Fresh goat cheese works nicely, especially little buttons of Crottin de Chavignol or one of my personal favorites, Valençay, which is goat cheese with a smoked outer crust sculpted in the shape of a four-sided tower. For those who love their meats, Sancerre also produces reds and rosés, those exclusively from Pinot Noir grapes. So Sancerre covers the waterfront. Oh, speaking of waterfronts and thereby the sea, many Americans always choose Sancerre to go with seafood, especially oysters. Not a bad choice, but there is a better one.

The Saga of the Melon de Bourgogne Grape

Up until the last twenty years or so, the wine made from the melon de Bourgogne grape, Muscadet, was not much regarded, though I would say those seafood wise old Mediterraneans knew about it and revered its flavor when combined with fruit de mer. It was in Nice more than 20 years ago now, at the Café de Turin, a simple but locally famous seafood place near the Place Garibaldi, where I, hearing what the locals were ordering, followed suit and got my first taste of Muscadet. It was light, light, light, so crisp and so refreshing, this because of its extreme dryness. No better choice for a platter of fruit de mer, especially the oysters, it literally took me on a seafood sea cruise. I actually tried speaking Nizzard, the local dialect of Nice, after an afternoon of seafood and Muscadet.

The Muscadet appellation comes from a region south of Nantes. Technically it is in the Loire region, but geologically its granite underpinnings make it more a part of Brittany than the limestone-based Loire Valley. There are three main Muscadet producing areas: Sevre et Maine, Côteaux de La Loire, and Côtes de Grandlieu. These regions have grown quite studious in developing their growing techniques and treatment of the soil, which has caused Muscadet to rise in public opinion. It is to the point now where people are taking tours looking for gastronomic adventures featuring Muscadet. Here’s one of these adventures in France on mussels and Muscadet, https://foodwineclick.com/2016/03/18/thai-red-curry-mussels-paired-with-muscadet-sevre-et-maine/ And should you really be adventurous, there is Ray Isle’s trip through the American South in “The Awesome Pairing Power of Muscadet.” He pairs it with everything from barbeque to tacos: https://www.foodandwine.com/articles/the-awesome-pairing-power-of-muscadet

So Sancerre or Muscadet, you really can’t go wrong. You can stick with an old standby, Sancerre, or go adventuring with Muscadet. I must mention that the melon de Bourgogne grape is also grown on our Pacific Coast, so check out Cellars Wine Club for both West Coast Wines and International Wines: www.cellarswineclub.com Hmmm, those Thai red curry mussels sound good.

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©marjorie vernelle 2019

Coming Soon on Of Art and Wine: Monet’s Lily Pond and the Last of the Summer Wine

Have you ever seen so many greens? How did Monet create this green harmony? And equally important, what summer wine cooler might you drink while viewing these spectacular shades of green?