If we know anything about Beyonce by now, we know everything she does has a hidden meaning behind it. The same can even be said about the recent Instagram announcement regarding the arrival of her twins, Sir and Rumi.
According to King’s College London Art History PhD candidate Ellie Jones, Bey’s birth and pregnancy announcements are inspired by Sandro Botticelli, an Italian Renaissance era painter.
Botticelli painted the world-renowned piece of art, The Birth Of Venus. Venus is known as the Roman goddess of love, sex, beauty and fertility.
“Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus is a ubiquitous image, and artists centuries over have used it as a touchstone for representations of the female nude,” she said. “In the 15th-century painting, the goddess of love stands, or rather floats, at its centre, with winds gently scattering the landscape with flowers.”
In The Birth Of Venus, the goddess is portrayed emerging from the water shortly after giving birth, and is depicted as a fully-formed beacon of serenity, physical and emotional strength and femininity.
“Beyonce’s birth announcement photograph directly quotes from Botticelli’s painting, her pose a near-mirror image of Venus’ famous stance,” she continues. “Where Venus places an arm across her breast, Beyoncé serenely holds her two new-born babies, emulating the same miraculous floating sensation found in Botticelli’s rendition.”
That Beyonce, always getting us to think.