《维纳斯的诞生》

黄士龙

The Birth of Venus is a 1486 painting completed by Italian artist Sandro Botticelli （1445—1510）. It depicts （描绘） the goddess Venus， having emerged from the sea as a fully grown woman， arriving at the sea shore. Venus rises from the sea， looking like a classical statue and floating on a seashell which is a symbol for a womans virginity in classical antiquity. On Venus right is Zephyrus， God of Winds， he carries with him the gentle breeze Aura and together they blow the Goddess of Love ashore. The Horae， Goddess of the Seasons， waits to receive Venus and spreads out a flower covered robe （礼袍） in readiness for the Love Goddess arrival. Some romantic notions suggest that Botticelli imagines himself as the God of Winds， embracing the love of his life in his arms. The picture originally hung in the country villa （別墅） of the Medici along with another painting Primavera， indicating that the work is commissioned by the Medici family. It was revealed that 32.5 cm of the top of The Birth of Venus had been planned down， creating this size difference which， even today， means that the Ufizis curators dont dare to put them side by side， even though they were made to be together.

All of the marvelous qualities of Botticellis painting only appeared after it had been superbly cleaned. Pearly flesh， nearly translucent （半透明的）， the skin is so fine that viewers have the impression that the sea can be seen through it. From the fantastic image of the Venus， we can see Botticellis simple， but very effective line drawing admired by a lot of painters and viewers. Botticellis art is never fully committed to naturalism. He seldom gives weight and volume to his figures and rarely uses a deep perspective space.From The Birth of Venus， we can easily find that the figures cast no shadows and the poses of the figures are hard to hold. It is clear that this is a fantasy image.

参考译文

《维纳斯的诞生》

《维纳斯的诞生》是由意大利画家桑德罗·波提切利（1445—1510）于1486年完成的一幅画。画中描绘了已然成年的女神维纳斯从海中浮水而上到岸边。从海中缓缓升起的维纳斯看上去就像是个古典雕塑，轻立于贝壳之上，而在古代，贝壳就是女性贞洁的象征。维纳斯的右边是风神仄费罗斯，他怀抱轻柔的春风女神奥拉，他们合力把爱神吹送到岸边。四季女神霍莉手拿缀满鲜花的长袍迎候在岸边。画中的浪漫气息可能暗示着波提切利把自己幻想成风神，怀抱生命的挚爱。这幅画和另外一幅《春》最初被悬挂在美蒂奇家族的乡村别墅中，说明此画是受美蒂奇家族委托所作。有迹象表明，《维纳斯的诞生》画作上部刻意被缩短了32.5厘米，这种差距使得乌菲兹美术馆的馆长至今都不敢让这两幅画并排挂在一起，即使当初它们是合为一体的。

但波提切利画作的所有神奇之处却都只是在经过精心清洁处理之后才显现：近乎半透明的圆润肌肉和光滑的肌肤，令观赏者感觉像看到了清澈见底的大海。在维纳斯迷人的姿态中，不难发现波提切利简单却不失表现力的线条描绘，难怪令很多画家和观赏者赞叹不已。他很少赋予人物重量和体积感，更很少使用深度透视的空间。从《维纳斯的诞生》中能清楚地发现所有人物都没有投影，姿势也很难掌控。显然，这种意象是想象力的产物。