Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T05:53:34.663Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Three - Sartorial Seduction

Silk, Embroidery, and Venusian Magic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2021

Rebekah Compton
Affiliation:
College of Charleston, South Carolina
Get access

Summary

Chapter 3 examines the magical virtues of Venus’ clothing in Sandro Botticelli’s paintings of the Primavera, Venus and Mars, and Venus and the Three Graces. The goddess’s raiment correlates with descriptions of her celestial likeness, a figuration employed in image-based magic and discussed in the Picatrix and Marsilio Ficino’s Three Books on Life. Her white silk dress, gold-bejeweled embroidery, and rose-colored mantle also suggest secret virtues that could be channeled by contemporary viewers privy to this ancient wisdom tradition. The chapter explores Botticelli’s personal ties to the silk industry and investigates his techniques for rendering the material and spiritual power of Venus’ enchanting fashions.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Sartorial Seduction
  • Rebekah Compton, College of Charleston, South Carolina
  • Book: Venus and the Arts of Love in Renaissance Florence
  • Online publication: 04 March 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108913393.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Sartorial Seduction
  • Rebekah Compton, College of Charleston, South Carolina
  • Book: Venus and the Arts of Love in Renaissance Florence
  • Online publication: 04 March 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108913393.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Sartorial Seduction
  • Rebekah Compton, College of Charleston, South Carolina
  • Book: Venus and the Arts of Love in Renaissance Florence
  • Online publication: 04 March 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108913393.004
Available formats
×