Primavera and Botticelli

note the grass dotted with wild flowers, the floral motif on the dress of the maiden at the right

 

After so many weeks of dark days and torrential rains and no painterly inspiration, today is splendid! A strange and beautiful day. In the early morning we started out to attend a funeral, alas, but  the sun, ablaze in the most pure blue sky ever,  eased  the sadness of our journey. A brief service. .  . simple . . . a reminder that our existence is temporal, that the joy and beauty of life should be our guide . We had the usual Saturday grocery shopping to do, supplies for the week, etc.,etc. But suddenly I wanted to take a detour. Since we were near one of the most important Medici villas in Florence, we decided to make a stop there to basque a little in the warmth of this premature sun and to see the gardens which, as I remembered, at this time of year are a joy of spring flowers; blue hyacinths, tiny red anemones, yellow daffodils and miniature tulips, white, red, violet, all mixed haphazardly with the grass or in formal rows hidden in  niches created by the  boxwood hedges. Think of the garden depicted in the Primavera by Botticelli. This garden must have been in his mind as he painted.

I wanted to take pictures,  closeups of these flowers, to immortalize details of this enchanted garden but, as usual, no camera! (sigh. . . the story of my life) The next best thing was my husband's cell phone but even that is useless because I can't seem to download them. Until I have better photos, I have posted some that are pertinent to the garden I saw today.

full view of the formal garden