Seven Paintings of the Birth of Venus
Water is the commonest symbol of the Unconscious.
Carl Jung, Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious
According to Hesiod’s Theogony, Aphrodite was born when Cronus cut off Uranus’ genitals and threw them into the sea, and from the sea foam (aphros) arose Aphrodite..
Continuing on with the amplification of the myth of Hercules — what relation is Venus to Hercules, if she is the offspring of his Great Grandfather Uranus. (Since she emerged directly from the castration of his genitals, does this mean there is a “once-removed” component to the relationship?)
1486
Tempera on canvas
67.9 inches × 109.6 inches
Uffizi, Florence
Nicolas Poussin
1635
Oil on canvas
38 1/4 x 42 1/2 inches
Philadelphia Museum of Art
1732
Oil on canvas
81x65cm
1740
Oil on canvas
130 x 162 cm, Niationalmuseum, Stockholm
1863
Oil on canvas
130 x 225 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
1868
1879
Type Oil on canvas
120 inches × 86 inches
Location Musée d’Orsay, Paris