Q 01/05

Venus, the subject of Botticelli's most famous painting, was the Roman goddess of what?

A) War and victory

B) Love and beauty

C) Wisdom and crafts

D) The hunt and the moon

Answer · why

B) Love and beauty

Love and beauty were her province, and she still has a day of the week: the Romans' 'day of Venus' survives as French vendredi and Spanish viernes.

Q 02/05

Which flowers drift through the air beside the two flying figures in The Birth of Venus?

A) Lilies

B) Poppies

C) Daisies

D) Roses

Answer · why

D) Roses

Roses, the old story went, came into the world at the same moment as Venus herself, which may be why they tumble through the air around her.

Q 03/05

In The Birth of Venus, the goddess rides to land on the shell of which sea creature?

A) A scallop

B) A conch

C) An oyster

D) A nautilus

Answer · why

A) A scallop

A scallop was the emblem of a goddess born from the sea, and its impossible size is an old convention: Roman artists had also floated her on a giant s...

Q 04/05

Which wind god blows Venus toward the shore from the left of The Birth of Venus?

A) Zephyrus

B) Aeolus

C) Notus

D) Boreas

Answer · why

A) Zephyrus

Zephyrus flies locked in the arms of a companion who blows as well; Botticelli borrowed the entwined pair from an ancient carved gem that the Medici o...

Q 05/05

The woman waiting on the shore in The Birth of Venus is often read as the spirit of which season?

A) Spring

B) Summer

C) Autumn

D) Winter

Answer · why

A) Spring

Spring is the usual reading because her dress and the cloak she holds out are strewn with flowers; the Greeks had goddesses of the seasons, the Horae,...