Art and it’s enjoyment is always personal, so unlike many publications and art critics who’ll ram their likes and preferences down your throat until you suffocate in agreement or face snide comments on your taste, at bc we suggest you go take a look and like what you like and enjoy it. In that vein it’s worth taking a wander over to the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) of the University of Hong Kong sometime before the 15th December to take a look at Sandro Botticelli’s (1445–1510) Venus in person.
An iconic image of the high artistic achievement of the Renaissance (14th–16th centuries) Botticelli produced a number of unique Venus paintings, the carefully executed tempera painting on wood relates to ancient classical sculpture and the tradition of depicting the goddess Venus as a heroine, symbolising love, beauty, fertility and prosperity in Greco-Roman mythology.
A rebirth of Antiquity, the Italian High Renaissance is significant for the sophisticated stylistic and technical advances in science and art, and the methodical study of nature and the human body. Botticelli’s painting, a depiction of the nude, exemplifies these values in which the verisimilitude and beauty of the human condition as an ideal form is achieved by the finest artists in early modern Europe.
There are a series of lectures and talks to complement the exhibition
Sandro Botticelli’s Venus – An Italian High Renaissance Masterpiece
When: 18 October – 15 December, 2013
Where: University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) of the University of Hong Kong
Time: 9:30am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday; 1 pm to 6pm on Sunday
How Much: Free
Details: Call 2241 5500 or http://www.hkumag.hku.hk/main.html
Extras:
Lectures:
7pm, 18 October – Sandro Botticelli’s Venus and the Italian Renaissance
Speaker: Dr. Opher Mansour, Fung Ping Shan Gallery, Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG
2:30pm, 23 November – Botticelli and the Bonfire of the Vanities
Speaker: Dr. Kathryn Blair Moore – Fung Ping Shan Gallery, Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG
Workshops:
1 December – Introduction to ‘Western’ painting -specifically oil techniques
(content from UMAG was used in the production of this article)