as a symbol for the Italian Renaissance.
Several theories about its meaning surround Botticelli’s painting, including the Neoplatonic interpretation of Venus embodying divine love. Another theory follows the Humanist idea that she represented the ideal love of humanity. Renaissance humanism was popular at the time and centered on classical antiquity. The goddess was sometimes featured in art celebrating weddings as well, and the figure of Venus embodied the perfection of female grace.
Interestingly, while Botticelli drew inspiration from sculptures of antiquity and applied a contrapposto pose to his subject in “Birth of Venus,” the figure of Venus is said to adopt qualities of Gothic art. According to British historian Kenneth Clark, “Her body follows the curve of a Gothic ivory.”
“Standing sculpture of Kisshoten”
“Standing sculpture of Kisshoten” (selection), Important Cultural Property, Kamakura period (1185-1333), height 90.0 cm, color pigment on Japanese cypress with hollow cavity inside, Joruri-ji Temple.
吉祥天 (Kisshoten, also known as Kichijoten, Kisshotennyo and Kudokuten) is revered as a goddess of beauty, fertility, and prosperity in both Japanese Buddhism and Japanese Shinto myth. Like Venus from Aphrodite, the deity was first adapted into mainland Buddhism from the Hindu goddess of beauty and prosperity, Lakshmi, along with some traits of Krishna, another divinity of love, before arriving in Japan. Worship of Kisshoten in Japan spread throughout the Nara period (710-794) with her image enshrined in many temples such as Todaiji, Saidaiji, Horyuji, and Yakushiji.
吉祥天立像 (Kisshoten ritsuzo, “Standing sculpture of Kisshoten”) pictured above, dates back to the 12th century and is a 秘仏 (hibutsu, a Buddhist image normally withheld from public view) at Joruri-ji Temple in Kyoto. As typical with most images of the deity, this work also portrays her as the ideal feminine beauty from the Chinese Tang dynasty with a softly rounded body dressed in colorful embroidered robes and a jeweled headdress. Her robes are painted with a special coloring method called ungen-saishiki, in which a color repeatedly goes from dense to diffuse, diffuse to dense that was used in the Nara and Heian (794-1185) periods.
Kisshoten’s full cheeks and elegant, crescent-shaped eyebrows also lend a serene and mature grace to her heavenly nature. The renowned Japanese photojournalist, Ken Domon, also famous for his images of Buddhist temples and statuary, exalted this statue as, “the most beautiful woman in Japan.”
You may notice that the goddess clutches a jewel in her left hand. This nyoi-hojo (wish-granting jewel) is tied to her image as a deity who bestows fortune and happiness to those who confess and repent their sins. This jewel helps identify Kisshoten and distinguish her from another Japanese goddess, Benzaiten, who is often conflated with Kisshoten and later overtook her in popularity around the 15th-16th century. Benzaiten is adapted from the Hindu goddess Saraswati, who holds a biwa (a traditional Japanese lute), and is regarded as a patron of art and music.