The Birth of Venus

Botticelli painted real gold leaf into Venus's hair, into the wings of the wind god Zephyr on the left, and into the highlights of the floral mantle the Hora holds out on the right. The gold catches actual sunlight: Venus glows differently from different angles. The practice of laying gold on figures was already old-fashioned by 1485. Botticelli reached back to medieval iconography to make Venus sacred, not just a classical nude. Now at Uffizi Gallery, Florence @uffizigalleries