When: February 13 2024, 16:30 To 20:30 - Where: Italian Cultural Institute San Francisco - Free Admission | Registration required

Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus is one of the great masterpieces of the Renaissance, a painting that has become synonymous with it. However, it is far from being the serene picture it is often taken to be. In today’s lecture, Prof. Emanuele Lugli (Stanford University) will go through some of the risks that Botticelli had to take to paint his masterpiece. In doing so, he will also discuss antiquarian culture, the relationship of painting and poetry, and love and eroticism in Renaissance Florence.