Between these two paintings of Venus there may seem to be almost no similarities but there are underlying connections between these two paintings. Boticelli’s Venus was painted on canvas and was actually the first canvas painting for the Tuscany area. Titian’s Venus was also painted on canvas and shows a continuation in this usage of canvas 50 years later as a popular medium to paint with.
One glaring similarity between these two paintings is the pose that Venus puts herself in. She is painted in the nude in a very relaxed state which accentuates her sensuality. This was a big deal since before Boticelli’s Venus, nudes were only done in biblical stories. Another similarity is the fact that she does not have to do any work and actually has other people doing her work for her. In Boticelli’s Venus, she is being pushed by the wind god to a waiting handmaiden who will clothe her once she steps off her shell onto the shore. In Titian’s Venus, two of her maidens are shown in the background going through a chest looking for clothes for Venus to put on. One more similarity between the two paintings is the style of the painting itself. In both paintings, the foreground is very pronounced and realistic (portraying a more renaissance style of painting) while the background is very flat and gothic. In “Birth of Venus” this corresponds to the trees and setting (location) that the even is taking place while in Titian’s Venus, the location is also flat but surprisingly the maidens in the back are also given less defining features and appear flat compared to Venus in the front.
Now for the differences. In Boticelli’s Venus, it is obvious that Venus is a very important woman with a sense of fantasy about her as she is riding a seashell pushed by people flying and pushing her with her breath. Titian’s Venus however, does not have any mythological feel to her and there is nothing to suggest that she is anyone more than a nobleman’s wife (Venus in this painting is supposed to depict the wife of the person the painting is painted for). Also Titian’s is painted indoors and seems almost domesticated compared to Boticelli’s in which she comes in riding on a seashell pushed by the wind gods; not quite as tamed. This comparison can also be traced back to Titian’s Venus being meant to represent how the recipient’s wife was supposed to be like. Also present in both paintings are the presence of flowers. These are intended to add to her beauty in both paintings (also the flowers in Boticelli’s were used for love potions).
