The Birth of Venus Artist Copy

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli was originally painted with Tempera Paint (The old timey, made of eggs kind of Tempera) on Canvas, between 1484 and 1486, at the large scale of 67.9” by 109.6” It currently resides in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. My Artist’s rendering of it is completed on Watercolor Paper in Acrylic Paint, which was not invented until 1953, making it an extremely modern medium compared to what was originally used. Although, I imagine the painting methods were relatively similar due to the fact that both Tempera and Acrylic Paint are made to dry quickly while working, as opposed to the extraneously long dry time of Oil Paint which was not introduced until the 1500s. My copy also drastically differs from the original in size, measuring up at 7.75” by 12.25.” I used scenic painting methods of grid work and specific measured scale to transfer the original, (which I printed on standard 8.5 by 11 paper), onto my paper by hand. From there, I used traditional painting methods to complete the piece which took approximately 50hrs total including all mapping out, drawing, painting, and even cutting down the paper after to include the border. This was completed in August of 2020 and currently resides in my home.

Scroll through the images below to see the Finished product, progress photos, and my setup.