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Sandro Botticelli
b.1445
Italy

Jenny Saville
b. 1970
England


Comparison
:
Botticelli
and Jenny
Saville

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Terms:
Figurative: representing objects in a way that they can be easily
recognised
Mythological: relating to myths, imaginary
Cropping: to trim parts of an image to remove unwanted sections
Foreshortening: shortening or distorting objects to create
an illusion of depth
and make them look like they are coming towards the viewer
Monumental: resembling a monument, grand or imposing
Linear: representing shapes and details by using clearly defined lines or
edges
Tempera: paint made by mixing powdered colour with a water- soluble
binder such as egg
Painterly: painting with visible brush strokes that create areas of colour
and tone that merge rather than being contained within outlines
Voyeur: French term to describe an obsessive, often secretive, watcher

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Art-iculate Comparison
The Birth of Venus by Botticelli (14451510) and Propped by
Jenny Saville (born 1970) are both figurative paintings of
female nudes.
Botticellis painting of Venus was revolutionary for its time.
Instead of being an image related to a religious theme as was
usual, the subject matter was secular and mythological.
Five hundred years later, Savilles painting questions the
appearance and the role of such traditional paintings of the nude.

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Botticelli and Saville - Recap
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Botticellis Birth of Venus owes its
inspiration to the classical ideas and
ideals of ancient Greece and Rome,
which were becoming increasingly
popular during the Early Renaissance in
fifteenth-century Italy.
The mythological figure of Venus was the
symbol of female desirability and
represented beauty and pleasure.
Here she is shown being blown gently
ashore by the winds soon after her birth
as a fully-grown woman. Her pose was
inspired by the classical sculptures that
Botticelli would have seen in the
collection of his patrons, the Medici
family.
Painted at a time when naked women
symbolised sinful lust, Botticellis Venus
remained modest. He exaggerated the
length of her neck and slope of her
shoulders to enhance her natural
elegance and grace, in accordance with
contemporary taste.

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Saville also exaggerates and
distorts the female nude, but she
does this by distorting the angle of
view and by dramatically cropping
and foreshortening the figure,
which emphasises its physical
bulk.
She is fascinated with the body,
particularly by female flesh, which
she describes as ugly, beautiful,
repulsive, compelling, anxious,
neurotic, dead, alive.
About the time she painted
Propped, Saville was intrigued by
plastic surgery and spent many
hours watching surgeons
manipulate flesh. In her work, she
raises contemporary concerns
about expectations of beauty and
the female body.
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Comparison
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Both Birth of Venus and Propped are monumental in scale.
Botticellis mythological story was painted to fit an architectural
setting and was the first large-scale canvas painted in Renaissance
Italy.
Saville, on the other hand, uses scale to overwhelm the viewer.
In Propped, the angle of view is low; as viewers, we are forced
to look up as the figure looks down, sitting uncomfortably on a
tall stool, which is almost hidden by her abundant flesh.
Foreshortening causes her head to look disproportionately
small although her gaze demands an embarrassing level of
intimacy between the model and the viewer.

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Both artists have used a restrained and somewhat muted
palette.

Botticellis painting style is linear, a necessary quality of the tempera
technique he used. He applied clear, precise outlines to define his
forms and details. In some places, these are reduced to decorative
patterns, such as the waves and the leaves on the trees.

In Savilles painting, however, there is a sensuous quality to her
expressive and painterly brushwork as it echoes the physical quality
of the flesh. The depiction of space is unimportant in both artworks.

In Birth of Venus, it is shallow and unconvincing and in Propped,
depth is not suggested although the viewer feels a claustrophobic
space surrounding the figure.

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John Berger said in Ways of Seeing that in the European
tradition of art, Women watch themselves being looked at.
They are very aware of the spectator, who is usually male.

This is certainly true of Botticellis Venus, who is aware of the
voyeuristic male gaze.

When observing the figure in Propped, however, there is a feeling
that the intended observer is not necessarily male. Savilles
distorted figure dares the viewer to look at her and pass judgement
on her size and shape. Shes not comfortable with the bulk of her
flesh.


In short, Botticelli contemplates beauty and pleasure in the
Birth of Venus while Saville questions the definition of beauty in
Propped.