... the three Graces are the Trinity, Flora the Virgin, and Mercury the character that draws together the Platonic and Christian elements. The painting, like an amulet that captures beneficent astral energy and reflects it upon the beholder, could have been intended as an "amulet" for tempering the sanguine character of Lorenzo. In a recent book devoted to understanding the background to the Primavera, Charles Dempsey puts forward three broad themes which bound the range of current interpretations. These suggest the painting is either a metaphor for civic celebrations and weddings or a Neo-Platonic meditation on beauty or a representation of the myth of Springtime recalling poetic tradition both previous to, and contemporaneous with Botticelli's era. There is considerable evidence for each stance to refer to which either becomes a scholarly minefield for those seeking to be rigorous or a rich source of potential narratives for the more contemplative. According to ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now