National Gallery London

Venus, Mars and the Garden of Meaning: Nature and Myth in Botticelli

Sotheby’s Institute of Art – In this visually engaging online lecture, Dr David Bellingham explores Botticelli’s Venus and Mars through the lens of nature and myth. Framed by laurel and myrtle—plants sacred to the Medici and Venus—the painting evokes seasonal cycles, erotic symbolism, and Neoplatonic ideals. From the thorn apple’s narcotic fruit to the healing aloe and the wasps of the Vespucci crest, the lecture reveals how Botticelli’s flora and fauna enrich the painting’s layered meanings. A poetic meditation on love, conflict and renewal, Venus and Mars invites reflection on nature’s power to seduce, heal and transform. The talk is based on Dr Bellingham’s published chapter in Brill’s Companion to Aphrodite (2010).