Italian American Herald - April 2021
P. 1

                                                       ACHIEVER
Leigh Altadonna, the bird man
of Wyncote
PAGE 7
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APRIL 2021
                        A MONTHLY NEWSPAPER SERVING THE ITALIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY WWW.ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM
 Sandro Botticelli’s iconic masterpiece “La Primavera” depicts the myriad glories of springtime.
Buona primavera!
The world springs back to life in the season of beauty and renewal
By Jeanne Outlaw-Cannavo
Aprile dolce incoraggia l’ucello a cantare e l’albero a fiorire.
Sweet April inspires the birds to sing and the tree to flower.
It’s spring again. The art, nature and music of Italy is bountiful with ways to showcase this season of rebirth. For those of us who experience the four seasons we can say goodbye to the gloomy days of winter, lift our faces to the sun and watch as flowers
come back to life and songbirds fill the air with their sweet music.
The word primavera has Indo-European roots – “prima” meaning before, and “vas,” which evolved into the word for summer, refers to something that is burning or shining.
One of the most famous depictions of spring is the masterpiece “La Primavera” by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli. It is thought that the work was commissioned by the Medici family, possibly created for
the marriage of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, a cousin of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
The tempera-on-wood panel, completed around 1482, captures the glories of the season. Considered one of the great works of the Renaissance, it shows a group of mythological figures in a shady glen under a half grove of orange trees set against a light blue sky. At the center of the painting is Venere (Venus) the ultimate symbol of love. Above her is a blindfolded cupid (her son) and to the left is Mercury, the god of
May. The three women on the right are the Graces who represent the virtues of chastity, beauty and love. On the right is Zephyrus, the west wind, who is about to take the nymph Chloris. After she is taken she transforms into Flora, the Spring Goddess.
ˇ
There are hundreds of paintings as well
as many sculptures highlighting the joys
of spring. One of the most noted of these is the primavera statue on the Ponte Santa Trinità in Florence, Italy. The sculpture was
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