Botticelli's Portrayal 'Propped'

The image of the nude is timeless, fundamental and universal. It has the ability to incite intense interest, yearning and even repulsion in the viewer. We often find that images of the nude reflect upon society’s attitudes towards beauty and gender issues. These issues are strongly highlighted in Jenny Saville’s nakedly confrontational ‘Propped’, which encompasses of a heavy-handed naked woman sitting on a stool. Her artwork forces the viewer to think of the female nude as not only an object, but also as a subject. Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ also addresses the issues of beauty and gender. In the artwork, Venus appears to be emerging from the sea, standing in a shell. Symbolising female desirability, the Early Renaissance painting is in accordance
Botticelli has depicted Venus, the pagan goddess of love, and the forerunner of spring. He has presented her as an ideal female figure for his time, consequently making her a symbol for female desirability. Jenny Saville, on the other hand, has dramatically cropped and foreshortened the female figure in her artwork in an attempt to emphasise the body’s physical bulk, creating a less than ideal female figure for contemporary society. Propped contains a strong cultural meaning, as do many of Saville’s works. Susie McKenzie speaks of her artworks in an interview with Saville in the Guardian on October 22nd 2005, stating that “Her exaggerated nudes point up, with an agonizing frankness, the disparity between the way women are perceived and the way that they feel about their bodies.” Saville has clearly represented the female nude in a way that may confront today’s society, daring her viewers to pass judgement on the figure in her artwork. Birth of Venus challenges the culture of Botticelli’s time, as it was a mythological painting, rather than relating to a religious theme as most art of that era
Birth of Venus was painted to fit an architectural setting. At the time of its production, Botticelli intended for the observers of his artwork to view the subject matter, Venus, as an earthly goddess who stimulated humans to physical love, or as a heavenly goddess who enthused intellectual love in them. The interpretation of today’s society will differ, due to the lack of knowledge of mythological and ancient Greek themes. It has been suggested that viewers of our time will look at the painting and feel their minds simply lifted to the realm of divine love. Saville’s work has been made to be presented in galleries and exhibitions. The scale of her work (213.5 x 183cm) is used to overwhelm the viewer, and demands an uncomfortable degree of intimacy between the gaze of the nude figure and the observer. Her purpose of creating the artwork was to raise questions about the expectations of beauty in today’s society. We are under the impression that the viewer of this type of artwork is generally female, and Saville wants her female observers to pass judgement of the figures enormous shape and