Analysis: The Venus Of Willendorf

Venus of Urbino demonstrates a beautiful, young woman, Venus, lying nude on what appears to be a reclined couch or bed. However, the woman illustrated means much more than merely a nude woman. There have been many interpretations of this beautiful woman over the years but many art historians agree that the Venus of Urbino has to do unambiguously with the male sexual desire for the female nude body.

The Venus of Willendorf is a sculpture that was sculpted out of limestone and stands to be 4 ½’’ tall. The figurine was most likely carved out of limestone because early pre-historic artists generally had to create art out of whatever materials they had available. The figurine is only 4 ½” tall is because it was common for pre-historic artists to carve small, hand held, portable figurines. The sculpture was found on the banks of the Danube River, an area where pre-historic hunter-gatherers were thought to have lived and traded goods with other civilians. The use of this piece of artwork is to portray the importance of women and fertility in pre-historic times because these features are ones that ensured the survival and future of mankind.

The Venus of Willendorf was found in 1908 by a workman named “Johann Veran” (Selen). It was found by archeologists at a Paleolithic site. Here at the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria, we have the only authentic Venus Figurine (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien). The artifact’s purpose is still being speculated by many. But from what I can infer, the figurine was used a a maternal figure, and it shows the richness of female fertility.

Part 2: The Venus figurines could have been made to express the way the Catalhuyuk people viewed women. Considering how plentiful the figurines are, historians can infer that women were most likely worshipped. Women in the Catalhuyuk civilization could have been worshipped for many reasons. They were capable of pregnancy which people may have thought connected them to the earth. If they had a direct connection to the earth, they were goddesses or special beings which would have be celebrated and praised. Because religion played such a huge part in their everyday lives, perhaps the people created the figurines to call upon the earth goddesses for rain, crops, or protection from illness. Looking

The Woman of Willendorf figure, which was revealed in Austria and it is so small that it measures about 4.5 inches in height (Haarmann 62). This piece is between 25,000 and 30,000 years old which makes it amongst one of the initial pieces of art revealed and an image of fertility. The work was imprinted from limestone with indication that some method of paint pigment was then added

Venus is a term that has long been associated with artwork, most specifically the classical forms of beautiful women. The term Venus has also come to represent female sculptures of the Paleolithic era. The most notable of these female sculptures is the Venus of Willendorf, 24,000-22,000 BCE. The age of the figurine has been changed several times. Originally when found the date was estimated to be 15,000 to 10,000 BCE. During the 1970's the time period was adjusted to 25,000 to 20,000 BCE; the date was again recalculated in the 1980's to 30,000 to 25,000 BCE;

For my vacation, my family has chosen to go to Venus. This our first year traveling outside of earth so we chose a planet close. Venus is covered with a thick layer of sulfuric acid which will be a blast to land into but on the inside Venus is solid. Venus shines super bright and has orangish yellow tint. The overall look of Venus is dreary and the gas covers the area with a goldish hue and everything looks like gunmetal. Venus is VERY hot, it temperature reaches to about 870 degrees Fahrenheit! On top of the scorching heat the Atmospheric pressure is bone crushing and highly dense.Venus is about 0.72 light years away from the Sun and blank light years from Earth. Venus is very much like earth and not very much like earth. Venus is about the same size as earth

This figurine gives the thinkage that its meant for them Sexuality and fertility. This statuette being so small give the idea that it was portable and being portable meant that it would be easy also to pass from a family member to another, almost like a heirloom. It could be part of a tradition to them give this Venus to woman that were going to get married were some kind of a amulet that helped the married women procreate the night of their wedding. Having a strong belief that something like that would make your dreams of becoming a mother possible would gave to be very powerful and helpful, because feeling like you have the future of your bloodline in your hands is quite stressful and stress doesn’t help getting pregnant. This would obviously help the village or society grow and have generations to protect and work. Taking all this back to the 21st century, woman from modern places would not use these kind of amulets trough the line of judgment that it would help them procreate, but apart from appreciating the art, they would take in conscience other things that are our very own traditions and rituals to have a good marriage and healthy happy

During the Upper Paleolithic era artists created a wide range of small sculptures. These sculptures were made from various materials, including ivory, bone, clay, and even stone. They represented humans, as well as animals; they even combined them at times. Most of the sculptures from this time show a high level of skill. From this time, there were two very influential sculptures, The Venus of Willendorf and the Venus of Laussel. This paper will discuss both sculptures, in detail, as well as, compare and contrast them.

Venus of Urbino illustrates a young woman, Venus, lying nude on what appears to be a reclined couch or bed. However, the woman depicted means much more than merely a nude woman. There have been many interpretations of this beautiful woman over the years but many art historians agree that the Venus of Urbino has to do unambiguously with the male sexual desire for the female nude body.

For example, during one of our earliest cultures, the Paleolithic period, the Women of Willendorf sculpture portrays a grossly heavy female figure representing fertility and beauty of being

Florence, Italy. He left Florence in 1480 to help decorate the Sistine Chapel in Rome with some of his art which only the most famous painters of that time were invited to do. In 1482, Botticelli returned to Florence and shortly

The sculptures and paint show details how society viewed and interpreted women body, sexuality, and maternity. In addition, revealed that these women were protected from threats around them with ornaments. Civilizations since early times, believed that we were in permanent threat from forces we do not see or cannot explain and because of it, we protected ourselves with artificial elements in a form of jewelry, crowns or caps. This idea has been continue from one generation to the next to the point that in modern societies some of us still use this type of protection in our bodies (e.g., small cross, divine images, tattoos, etc.).These pieces of art also indicate that humans believed in gods with superpowers and they are looking over us constantly. Humanity also believes in dark forces or demons trying to makes us do things that would upset the good gods. Some of the differences between these sculptures and paint are the material in which each one of them were created. The first figure, the Woman of Willendorf was carved in limestone, the second piece, the portrait of Queen Tiye was carved in wood and the last piece, the Virgin and Child Icon was created of tempera on a wood. You can also notice how the details on their faces and bodies changes throughout the time and years. The woman of Willendorf figurine offers details of a voluptuous nude women’s body but there is not face, or feet. Queen Tiye statue shows the face of a woman in detail closed to the gods but without any body parts and lastly The Virgin and Child Icon, is an expression of divinity of the views, reflections and beliefs from the gospel. Because communities started to innovate on the art of carving and painting, populations began to discover and/or create art with the objective of expressing different purposes of our daily lives, such as the beauty of a woman’s body, or to commemorate an ancient

Sculpture: Very few of their sculptures are around today, but the most famous is the Woman of Willendorf, which is thought to have a connection to fertility.

The Birth of Venus is a beautiful Renaissance canvas masterpiece created by Sandro Botticello. The picture illustrates the birth of Venus in a very mystical way. Venus has emerged from sea on a shell which is being driven to shore by flying wind-gods. She is surrounded by beautiful roses which are painted in a truly remarkable color. As she is about to step to land, one of the Hours hands her a purple cloak. The back drop includes the sea and a forest. The overall effect of this painting are almost overwhelming, color and beauty meet the eye in every angle.