Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Raphael's Galatea - Essay Example

 Next to Galatea, hung the Polyphemus, which was very significant as the myth has it that Polyphemus was in love with the nymph Galatea, who did not return his affection. Both painters thus have painted scenes from Classical Literature, and according to EH Gombrich, both painters drew their source from Florentine Angelo Poliziano’s poetry. Though the Birth of Venus is painted on canvas, “the figure of Venus appears almost like a classical statue. The hard modeling of the white shimmering flesh color is reminiscent of marble” According to E. H. Gombrich, Raphael had perfected “the perfect and harmonious composition of freely moving figures” iii According to Koenmanniv, Galatea is painted in the Neoplatonic style, and is “a secular version of his St.

Catherine”. Both painters have different styles. The stance of Venus is not original and draws on the sculpture Venus Pudica, so while Botticelli looked to the past to pull out ideas, Raphael moved away from convention and moved away from the pursuit of Nature, sticking more with the idea of the imagined Beauty in his head. Fra Filippo Lippi was Botticelli’s teacher and in addition to Antonio del Pollaiuolo the painter, and Andrea Del Verrocchio the sculptor, influenced Botticelli.

The Humanist Movement influenced Raphael and Galatea represents those ideals.