The Birth of Venus painted by Sandro Botticelli is the myth of how the Goddess Venus was born out of the waves of the sea, after Uranus was castrated by his son, Cronus. His severed genitals, falling into the sea, fertilized the water.
Venus has emerged from the sea on a shell (in classical antiquity, the sea shell was a metaphor for a woman''''s vulva) which is driven to the shore by flying wind-gods amidst a shower of roses. As she is about to step on to the land, one of the Hours or Nymphs receives her with a purple cloak. Botticelli''''s Venus is so beautiful that we do not notice the unnatural length of her neck, the steep fall of her shoulders and the queer way her left arm is hinged to the body. Or, rather, we should say that these liberties which Botticelli took with nature in order to achieve a graceful outline add to the beauty and harmony of the design because they enhance the impression of an infinitely gender and delicate being, wafted to our shores as a gift from Heaven.
The classical Goddess Venus emerges from the water on a shell, blown towards shore by the Zephyrs, symbols of spiritual passions, and with one of the Ores, goddesses of the seasons, who hands her a flowered cloak. According to some commentators, the naked goddess is not then a symbol of earthly but of spiritual love, like an ancient marble statue (which might have inspired the 18th century sculptor, Antonio Canova, by its candor), slim and long-limbed, with harmonious features.