 Tempera on panel, 69 cm x 173 cm]]

Portraits produced during the Renaissance provide an invaluable resource for visualizing and understanding the beauty ideals of the period.Sandro Botticelli's "Venus and Mars", painted between 1480-1490 depicts Venus as the ultimate amalgamation of female physical beauty.Her face is perfectly symmetrical, her skin is unblemished and pure white, her hair is light in colour and slightly waved, her forehead is high, her eyebrows are severely arched, her lips are red and full and her abdomen and hips protrude slightly under her thin garment.