[Sandro Botticelli / The Birth of Venus] In Europe, the Christian arts were the mainstream since the medieval age until the Renaissance, and pagan gods of Greece, Rome, etc. were seldom drawn. The Renaissance was the age when such ancient cultures were re-discovered. This artwork by Botticelli was the first masterpiece with the motif of ancient mythology in the Renaissance period. It expresses the scene of the birth of Venus, goddess of love and beauty, from the froths of the sea and blown to the shore by the breath of Zephyros, god of western wind. Venus is standing on a shell in the “discrete Venus” pose of hiding her private part with her hand. It is expressed in a beautiful, well-balanced figure as if it were a Roman sculpture. Hora, a nymph of the springtime that is a season of re-birth and resurrection, is waiting for Venus with clothing on the shore. Copyright/Photo:The Bridgeman Art Library/DNP Archives