Oct 7

Oct 7 Sandro Botticelli

Wow, okay, where do I even begin?!

My trip to Europe was a once in a lifetime experience. My husband Sean and I went for three weeks on our honeymoon and it was everything and more! Given my background in Art History and the abundance of amazing museums and incredible art, you can probably imagine how overwhelmed I was at the thought of what to match, where to match, and how to prioritize all of that. Even though I could have come up with countless matches (my mind literally ran WILD with ideas during the planning phase of our trip) I decided to keep it to a minimum and just, well, go for the “gold.”

In my mind, the crown jewel of Italian Renaissance paintings is Sandro Botticelli’s Birth Of Venus seen below. Actually, let me be more specific: this piece is one of THE most famous paintings in the world. It’s an icon of the Italian Renaissance, recognizable, rooted in Art History and of course it is also seemingly impossible to match, all reasons why I chose it.

Screen Shot 2019-09-11 at 3.51.05 PM.png

Let’s talk a little about the piece first. The painting is tempera on canvas and was painted by Italian painter Sandro Botticelli in 1484-86. It was commissioned by a member of the Medici family and is one of two classical mythology depictions Botticelli is known for, the other being his painting, Primavera.

What I love so much about studying Art History is that it is rooted in the practice of visually describing, calculating and interpreting any and all content to formulate the basis for which a piece exists and the context in which it was created. As the viewer, we take all of those facts, ideas, and opinions to extrapolate a possible meaning. So basically what I’m saying is this: anything and everything in a piece of art can be interpreted as something with greater meaning. If you’re visual, analytical, and love puzzles then ART HISTORY is for you!

If you’re interested in the history of the piece and its various themes and symbols, read on here.

As far as this match was concerned, finding a dress to match was quite limited. Obviously pulling some crazy streaker stunt in the middle of the Uffizi Gallery was NOT an option so I decided to match the figure on the right, the Hora Of Spring.

Floral dresses are a plenty but I really wanted to find something that mimicked her floral dress with the tiny blue flowers and foliage. This proved difficult but of course I wasn’t going to give up until I found SOMETHING and that’s when I stumbled across the dress seen below!

I don’t normally wear the dresses for my matches to the destination but this time around I knew the Uffizi experience was not going to be easy, so came to the museum prepared. Luckily I was able to score some last minute timed entrance tickets a few days before. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND getting these (further in advance than I did haha) if you plan on going there or anywhere slightly popular in Italy. Otherwise, good luck. It’s like going to Disneyland without the FastPass!

Once we arrived I was already a bit flustered because that’s just how I am with these things and the CROWDS were right there with us. WOW. This was by far the most hectic match I've done. All looks calm and peaceful in the pic but that was NOT AT ALL the case. The scene in front of this piece was. pure. chaos. I'm talking selfie sticks battling it out, people shoving each other, guards yelling at people to not touch the art (crazy, right?) and tour guides waving around their weird little flags to keep their groups in line.

Luckily everything worked out. I patiently waited for the perfect moment to pop out from the crowd, posed in front of the piece, miraculously no one interfered, Sean was able to snap a dozen pics, and boom it was done in an instant.

Moral of the story - if you want to go to a popular museum and actually SEE and enjoy the art, go in the “off season" not the "a little bit slower than July Off Season.” It’s nearly impossible to enjoy the masterpieces that many of these museums house in their collections and while there are plenty of other pieces to see and enjoy, come on - everyone loves the masterpieces!