Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Zephyrus.
The gallery
The Birth of Venus
Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485
Botticelli's Uffizi masterpiece: Zephyrus, locked with the breeze-nymph Aura, blows Venus ashore on her shell — the west wind as Renaissance art's most famous breath of spring.
Primavera
Sandro Botticelli, c. 1480
On the left edge of Botticelli's Primavera, Zephyrus seizes the nymph Chloris, who transforms into Flora — the west wind as the violent spark that turns the orchard into spring.
Flora and Zephyr
William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1875
Bouguereau's Mulhouse canvas: Zephyr, winged and airborne, lifts Flora among putti and roses — academic polish on the Ovidian marriage of west wind and flowers.
Flora Caressed by Zephyr
François Gérard, 1802
Gérard's Grenoble painting: Zephyr leans from the air to kiss Flora — Neoclassical tenderness for the breeze that brings the year's first blossoms.
In play
The Birth of Venus
Sandro Botticelli
Botticelli's Zephyrus blows Venus ashore on her shell — the west wind as Renaissance art's most famous breath of spring.
Zephyr
English zephyr names a soft breeze — Zephyrus reduced to the everyday word for gentle western air.