黃士龍

The Birth of Venus is a 1486 painting completed by Italian artist Sandro Botticelli （1445—1510）. It depicts （描繪） the goddess Venus， having emerged from the sea as a fully grown woman， arriving at the sea shore. Venus rises from the sea， looking like a classical statue and floating on a seashell which is a symbol for a womans virginity in classical antiquity. On Venus right is Zephyrus， God of Winds， he carries with him the gentle breeze Aura and together they blow the Goddess of Love ashore. The Horae， Goddess of the Seasons， waits to receive Venus and spreads out a flower covered robe （禮袍） in readiness for the Love Goddess arrival. Some romantic notions suggest that Botticelli imagines himself as the God of Winds， embracing the love of his life in his arms. The picture originally hung in the country villa （別墅） of the Medici along with another painting Primavera， indicating that the work is commissioned by the Medici family. It was revealed that 32.5 cm of the top of The Birth of Venus had been planned down， creating this size difference which， even today， means that the Ufizis curators dont dare to put them side by side， even though they were made to be together.

All of the marvelous qualities of Botticellis painting only appeared after it had been superbly cleaned. Pearly flesh， nearly translucent （半透明的）， the skin is so fine that viewers have the impression that the sea can be seen through it. From the fantastic image of the Venus， we can see Botticellis simple， but very effective line drawing admired by a lot of painters and viewers. Botticellis art is never fully committed to naturalism. He seldom gives weight and volume to his figures and rarely uses a deep perspective space.From The Birth of Venus， we can easily find that the figures cast no shadows and the poses of the figures are hard to hold. It is clear that this is a fantasy image.

參考譯文

《維納斯的誕生》

《維納斯的誕生》是由意大利畫(huà)家桑德羅·波提切利（1445—1510）于1486年完成的一幅畫(huà)。畫(huà)中描繪了已然成年的女神維納斯從海中浮水而上到岸邊。從海中緩緩升起的維納斯看上去就像是個(gè)古典雕塑，輕立于貝殼之上，而在古代，貝殼就是女性貞潔的象征。維納斯的右邊是風(fēng)神仄費(fèi)羅斯，他懷抱輕柔的春風(fēng)女神奧拉，他們合力把愛(ài)神吹送到岸邊。四季女神霍莉手拿綴滿鮮花的長(zhǎng)袍迎候在岸邊。畫(huà)中的浪漫氣息可能暗示著波提切利把自己幻想成風(fēng)神，懷抱生命的摯愛(ài)。這幅畫(huà)和另外一幅《春》最初被懸掛在美蒂奇家族的鄉(xiāng)村別墅中，說(shuō)明此畫(huà)是受美蒂奇家族委托所作。有跡象表明，《維納斯的誕生》畫(huà)作上部刻意被縮短了32.5厘米，這種差距使得烏菲茲美術(shù)館的館長(zhǎng)至今都不敢讓這兩幅畫(huà)并排掛在一起，即使當(dāng)初它們是合為一體的。

但波提切利畫(huà)作的所有神奇之處卻都只是在經(jīng)過(guò)精心清潔處理之后才顯現(xiàn)：近乎半透明的圓潤(rùn)肌肉和光滑的肌膚，令觀賞者感覺(jué)像看到了清澈見(jiàn)底的大海。在維納斯迷人的姿態(tài)中，不難發(fā)現(xiàn)波提切利簡(jiǎn)單卻不失表現(xiàn)力的線條描繪，難怪令很多畫(huà)家和觀賞者贊嘆不已。他很少賦予人物重量和體積感，更很少使用深度透視的空間。從《維納斯的誕生》中能清楚地發(fā)現(xiàn)所有人物都沒(méi)有投影，姿勢(shì)也很難掌控。顯然，這種意象是想象力的產(chǎn)物。