Primavera

c. 1480

Tempera on poplar panel, 207 × 319 cm · Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Recorded in the Florence house of the heirs of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, hung above a lettuccio, a carved daybed. The Uffizi says its exact meaning remains a mystery.

At right, the wind Zephyr seizes the nymph Chloris, who reappears transformed as Flora.
Venus stands in the centre; a blindfolded Cupid shoots above her.
At left, Mercury touches the clouds with his staff.
At least 42 plant species can be identified in the meadow.
Since June 2026 it faces The Birth of Venus across the renovated Botticelli rooms.

Many scholars read the painting through the Neoplatonic philosophy of Marsilio Ficino, as an image of love rising from the physical to the spiritual.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain