I remember — years ago now — that it was springtime when I first toured Florence, Italy. But that’s not the reason I was so eager to visit the Uffizi Gallery to see Botticelli’s "Primavera" (Spring).
What intrigued me most was something I’d read: the artist had included at least 200 exquisite and realistic spring flowers in the painting.
Yet when I stood before the large canvas, my eyes weren’t drawn to the flowers, but to the figures, quite literally. Each woman, especially Venus at the center, appeared to be revealing a baby bump, or at the very least, a significantly rounded belly.
Art historians, at least in the commentaries I read, don’t explicitly say that the women are pregnant. But they do suggest that Venus, the Three Graces, and the other mythological figures may symbolize love and fertility.
Or perhaps the women’s curvaceous forms are not signs of pregnancy, but rather emblems of springtime abundance. And abundance, indeed, is what spring is all about.
Maybe not for everyone, but certainly in nature. Not all, but most wild birds and mammals give birth in spring, when food is most plentiful. It’s the season of mild weather, when temperatures are rarely extreme, and when daylight lasts longest, which gives parents time to find food for themselves and their hungry young.
The painting "Primavera" truly is filled with an abundance of beautiful flowers. And so are our spring woodlands.
