Sandro Botticelli, the birth of Venus

Known as the Birth of Venus, the composition actually shows the goddess of love and beauty arriving on land, on the island of Cyprus, born of the sea spray and blown there by the winds, Zephyr and, perhaps, Aura. The goddess is standing on a giant scallop shell, as pure and as perfect as a pearl. She is met by a young woman, who is sometimes identified as one of the Graces or as the Hora of spring, and who holds out a cloak covered in flowers. This masterpiece by Sandro Botticelli is located in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.