How does this artwork elucidate its Symbolic imagery?
The first and only major oil painting featuring a nude to be painted by Rossetti, Venus Verticordia features blatantly erotic symbolism. She is surrounded by a mass of roses and honeysuckles, during the 19th century Victorian period there was a heightened interest in the Language of flowers, and these flowers would have been understood in this context as sensual metaphors of women's sexuality/genitals. As an artist, Rossetti also used the rose and honeysuckle flowers as symbols for sexual passion. The golden-tipped arrow held by Venus is ‘Cupids arrow’, Cupid being the son of Venus and the god of desire, and it points towards the left side of the chest and her own heart. This suggesting to the viewer the invocation of uncontrollable desire.The golden apple in the painting refers to Greek mythology, as the prize won by Venus (Aphrodite) in a beauty contest referred to as the Judgement of Paris. In Greek mythology this story involves events leading up to the Trojan War, and in it Paris (mythology) is a man swayed by his desire for the beautiful woman Helen of Troy – offered to him by Aphrodite (Venus). The apple also suggests the idea of Forbidden fruit and the story of the tempting of Eve by Sin in the Garden of Eden, as occurs in the Book of Genesis. This Christian iconography is at odds with the halo surrounding Venus – as a usual sign of holiness, and in the case of female figures, purity. The yellow butterflies, eight flying through Venus’ halo, and another two on her hands, may have several meanings. Butterflies have traditionally been seen as symbols of the soul, these butterflies may represent the soul of Venus, or the involvement of the soul as well as the body in affairs of love and desire.
golden apple Paris (mythology) Cupid Forbidden fruit Venus Verticordia Venus Book of Genesis Helen of Troy Language of flowers Judgement of Paris