Italian Renaissance (pt. 11)

Although Leonardo da Vinci is more famous among us today, it was Sandro Botticelli who was the definitive artist of the Renaissance.  His figures moved gracefully in space (like those of the Ancient Greeks), and his themes turned from evangelical and ecclesiastical back to the pagan mythology of Greece and Rome and the celebration of human nature.  Primavera is a gorgeous work of his that merely dealt with the concept of "the spring."  It was pure fantasy (no Bible stories) inspired by poetry that was not biblical.

Botticelli's Birth of Venus was an appreciation of the pagan goddess of beauty (and a very sensual celebration, at that).  We're back to graceful, nude figures that look realistic as well as beautiful.