[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.00,0:00:05.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}Art...{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,0:00:05.93,0:00:07.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}ArtSleuth{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,0:00:10.66,0:00:13.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A shower of roses
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.40,0:00:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A modestly concealing gesture
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.00,0:00:19.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A pensive face
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.86,0:00:23.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A picture by Sandro Botticelli.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.06,0:00:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of those mythical nudes which recur throughout the history of painting?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.00,0:00:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not just that:
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.66,0:00:33.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a nude of a kind not seen for a millennium:
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.13,0:00:37.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,life-size, graceful, full-frontal and totally present.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.73,0:00:39.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For centuries, nudity has spelt humiliation,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.85,0:00:41.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,… or vice
Dialogue: 0,0:00:41.85,0:00:43.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and beauty has been suspect,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.10,0:00:49.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and now both are revealed and idolised in this picture of Venus, Godess of Love…
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.60,0:00:53.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,With this celebration of woman’s body and grace,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.30,0:00:57.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,humanist man of the Renaissance enters the modern age.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.90,0:00:59.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Icon?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.35,0:01:01.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,… or cliché?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.45,0:01:06.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Countless reproductions have made this scene so sickeningly familiar,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.10,0:01:08.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we almost hope to see it take a Monty Python turn,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.90,0:01:13.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and forget to look at it properly!
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.25,0:01:16.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we did, and looked beyond its apparent serenity and gentleness,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.60,0:01:18.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this uneasy balancing act,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.85,0:01:24.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this frenetic movement,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.25,0:01:26.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this firm, unwavering line…
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.25,0:01:31.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,… we would see that this slender, elongated figure,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.50,0:01:33.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with its abundant hair
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.50,0:01:35.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is light years away from the massive solidity of classical statuary…
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.90,0:01:38.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that this abstracted, melancholy face,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.90,0:01:42.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is closer to today’s deadpan super-models
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.85,0:01:44.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than the frankly carnal images of Venus which followed it.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.20,0:01:51.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So: Renaissance goddess or medieval madonna?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.40,0:01:56.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Symbol of emancipation or stock masculine ideal?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.65,0:01:58.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Who exactly is this woman?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.65,0:02:00.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,BOTTICELLI - *The Birth of Venus*
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.65,0:02:02.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*That Obscure Object of Desire*
Dialogue: 0,0:02:04.55,0:02:06.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Part 1 : Weight of the word, shock of the image
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.40,0:02:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The answer seems obvious:
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.00,0:02:11.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she is Venus, at the very moment of her birth!
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.90,0:02:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,beautiful …
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.00,0:02:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,… awkwardly shielding her nakedness
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.00,0:02:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,… surrounded by her attributes:
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.00,0:02:19.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the conch-shell, on which she was born amid the waves,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.40,0:02:21.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the roses
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.50,0:02:29.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On her left, Zephyr, god of the west wind,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.45,0:02:31.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,cheeks swelling as he blows,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.50,0:02:34.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and his companion, Aura, the spring wind.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.65,0:02:37.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They are wafting the shell towards the shore …
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.00,0:02:42.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,… where a woman is waiting to fold Venus in a scarlet cloak,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.05,0:02:44.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,patterned with violets.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.70,0:02:46.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She is one of the Horae,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.25,0:02:49.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,goddesses of the seasons - presumably Spring.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.85,0:02:54.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Botticelli’s Venus comes straight from classical antiquity:
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.60,0:02:59.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,True, he has faithfully followed the description of her birth given by Politian,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.40,0:03:01.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his contemporary.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.70,0:03:04.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But that text is itself based \Non Pliny the Elder’s account of
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.75,0:03:08.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a legendary fresco of Venus, painted by Apelles,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.40,0:03:10.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ancient Greece’s most celebrated painter,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.25,0:03:13.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for Alexander the Great!
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.75,0:03:20.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Impossible to find a more illustrious forebear for the artist,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.05,0:03:23.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or his patrons, the Medici.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.15,0:03:27.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the Medici themselves provide his second great source of classical inspiration -
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.25,0:03:30.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,their Roman copy of the Venus of Praxiteles,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.15,0:03:34.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a nude statue whose fabled beauty so fired one young man with passion
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.65,0:03:37.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that he attempted to make love to it!
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.90,0:03:43.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Birth of Venus thus seems to embody the true Renaissance spirit:
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.50,0:03:46.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rejection of medieval obscurantism
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.60,0:03:48.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thanks to rediscovery of the Greek and Roman legacy.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.35,0:03:56.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet, comparison of Botticelli’s picture with other contemporary masterworks
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.65,0:03:58.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,reveals some striking differences:
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.55,0:04:02.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His fellow painters are enthralled by perspective,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.95,0:04:04.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but his use of it here is perfunctory:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.85,0:04:11.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no progressive fading-out of contrasts to convey increasing distance
Dialogue: 0,0:04:11.15,0:04:15.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and his figures look like cut-outs pasted on a background.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.05,0:04:20.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Again, while his contemporaries seek to make figures life-like
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.95,0:04:22.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by softening their contours,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.95,0:04:25.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Botticelli gives those contours a chiselled clarity.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.25,0:04:31.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Finally, Venus differs from her model:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.05,0:04:33.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,her neck and face are longer
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.90,0:04:35.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,her shoulders less broad
Dialogue: 0,0:04:35.35,0:04:37.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,her stomach rounder…
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.45,0:04:42.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and she violates the sacrosanct principles of classical proportion…
Dialogue: 0,0:04:42.90,0:04:47.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In theory, the proportions of the whole are determined by the distance between the breasts,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:47.90,0:04:49.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but here the rule is loosely applied and the proportional distances are variable.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:52.25,0:04:54.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Classical stability has gone too:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:54.50,0:04:57.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,instead, we get an improbable disequilibrium.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:58.35,0:05:01.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is Venus concealing her real origins?
Dialogue: 0,0:05:05.83,0:05:07.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Part 2. *The art of living in the present*
Dialogue: 0,0:05:08.55,0:05:12.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,With the scanty classical material at his disposal,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:12.15,0:05:15.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Botticelli cannot hope to convey the goddess’s full beauty to his contemporaries.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:16.40,0:05:22.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So he falls back on earlier styles still popular in late fifteenth-century Florence.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:22.10,0:05:26.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He turns, for example, to the medieval tapestries of northern Europe, which are highly prized by the Medici.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:26.60,0:05:29.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Typically, their figures stand out like arabesques,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:29.35,0:05:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and his flattened perspective in The Birth of Venus echoes this medium,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:33.00,0:05:37.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose physical nature makes it hard to render depth.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:39.00,0:05:42.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He also turns to goldsmithing, a typically medieval art,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:42.20,0:05:44.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,now on the way out.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:45.60,0:05:48.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Botticelli himself trained first as a goldsmith,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:48.75,0:05:52.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which explains the crystalline precision of his draughtsmanship
Dialogue: 0,0:05:52.75,0:05:55.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and why “virile” is the epithet commonly applied to him.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:56.40,0:06:00.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fifteenth-century usage, “virility” denoted absolute mastery of an art or skill
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.30,0:06:02.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- what we now call virtuosity
Dialogue: 0,0:06:03.30,0:06:07.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which, for a Florentine painter in 1485, meant flawless draughtsmanship,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:08.75,0:06:10.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a field in which Botticelli reigned supreme!
Dialogue: 0,0:06:13.70,0:06:16.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ultimately, his naked goddess is not classical, but gothic
Dialogue: 0,0:06:18.05,0:06:19.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- the hair is long
Dialogue: 0,0:06:21.50,0:06:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the body is longer
Dialogue: 0,0:06:23.00,0:06:25.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the muscles have gone and the hips are broader
Dialogue: 0,0:06:25.70,0:06:27.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the breasts are smaller
Dialogue: 0,0:06:28.50,0:06:30.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, is Venus a neo-medieval nude?
Dialogue: 0,0:06:32.70,0:06:35.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In form yes, but by no means in subject:
Dialogue: 0,0:06:37.45,0:06:40.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,medieval artists used the nude in two contexts only, both of them biblical:
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.95,0:06:43.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sometimes, to symbolise innocence,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:44.85,0:06:48.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but usually, to symbolise sin.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:49.65,0:06:54.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This Venus might be an up-dated version of the nude who stands for innocence and purity,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:54.50,0:06:56.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with gestures expressive of modesty.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:58.15,0:07:00.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,her absorbed and pensive face
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.45,0:07:03.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- the face indeed of the Virgin Mary,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:03.90,0:07:05.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,goddess of the Christians!
Dialogue: 0,0:07:06.95,0:07:10.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the greatest philosophers of the age endow her with virtues:
Dialogue: 0,0:07:10.10,0:07:12.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Temperance and decorum ...
Dialogue: 0,0:07:12.10,0:07:14.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,charm and splendour!
Dialogue: 0,0:07:15.20,0:07:22.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is all part of a strange attempt to reconcile the Catholic religion with the pagan gods of antiquity
Dialogue: 0,0:07:23.70,0:07:26.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,earnest treatises are devoted to astrology,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:28.00,0:07:30.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a full-scale cult of Venus develops.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:33.75,0:07:36.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mothers who have just given birth are presented with decorated trays,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:36.40,0:07:38.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on which the sovereign goddess is shown holding men in thrall,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:38.95,0:07:40.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as if hypnotised.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:46.50,0:07:50.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Supposedly a wedding present, *The Birth of Venus *
Dialogue: 0,0:07:50.10,0:07:53.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,might thus be an open and superlative version of the nudes
Dialogue: 0,0:07:53.45,0:07:56.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,traditionally painted inside marriage chests.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:56.45,0:07:58.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which were thought to bring good fortune to newlyweds,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:58.75,0:08:00.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,excite their desire
Dialogue: 0,0:08:00.25,0:08:03.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and even help to make their future children beautiful!
Dialogue: 0,0:08:05.50,0:08:09.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The picture itself packs a powerfully sensual punch:
Dialogue: 0,0:08:09.95,0:08:14.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The improbably entwined legs of the “lascivious zephyrs”
Dialogue: 0,0:08:19.40,0:08:21.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The long and wildly tossing hair
Dialogue: 0,0:08:26.50,0:08:31.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The wind-blown dress which clings suggestively to the Hora’s body
Dialogue: 0,0:08:35.25,0:08:38.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Indeed, agitation and movement dominate the picture!
Dialogue: 0,0:08:38.45,0:08:40.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And movement is becoming one of the Renaissance artists’
Dialogue: 0,0:08:40.82,0:08:43.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,favourite ways of expressing rapture,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:43.22,0:08:44.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ecstasy-
Dialogue: 0,0:08:44.32,0:08:46.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and sensuality.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:48.27,0:08:53.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Botticelli, after all, could desexualise nudes - when he chose to:
Dialogue: 0,0:08:53.65,0:08:56.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Take the figure of *Truth *- sallow, stiff and flat-chested
Dialogue: 0,0:08:56.92,0:08:58.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- who appears in his *Calumny of Apelles *
Dialogue: 0,0:08:59.15,0:09:03.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,• Or this hunch-backed *St. Zenobia, *with her near-male torso.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:05.37,0:09:10.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Neither classical nor medieval, this scene is typical of the Florentine renaissance,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:10.07,0:09:12.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,always prompt to sing the pleasures of life and the senses
Dialogue: 0,0:09:12.52,0:09:14.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-even when this involves cheerfully combining…
Dialogue: 0,0:09:14.30,0:09:17.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Christian religion and pagan superstition,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:17.37,0:09:20.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,idealisation and carnal sensuality.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:21.27,0:09:23.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet, a bare ten years later,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:23.62,0:09:26.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the picture had already been forgotten - and it stayed forgotten for over three centuries!
Dialogue: 0,0:09:28.73,0:09:30.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Part 3 : The double life of Venus
Dialogue: 0,0:09:33.20,0:09:34.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1494, ...
Dialogue: 0,0:09:35.27,0:09:38.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Florence abruptly becomes a “theocratic dictatorship”,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:38.90,0:09:41.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,led by the Dominican preacher, {\i1}Savonarola{\i0},
Dialogue: 0,0:09:41.67,0:09:43.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who reviles pagan nudity.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:44.65,0:09:47.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Botticelli does formal *penance, *
Dialogue: 0,0:09:47.47,0:09:49.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and goes back to painting biblical scenes.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:50.52,0:09:52.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Venus escapes destruction…
Dialogue: 0,0:09:52.57,0:09:55.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but not Botticelli’s fading popularity in his own lifetime,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:55.62,0:09:59.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the last ten years of which pass without a single commission.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:01.10,0:10:02.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The painters who count now
Dialogue: 0,0:10:02.57,0:10:06.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are the ones who break completely with the medieval style…
Dialogue: 0,0:10:06.57,0:10:10.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and give the human body volume and ultra-realistic, continuous contours.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:11.97,0:10:15.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The daring features of *The Birth of Venus *are soon dismissed as old-fashioned :
Dialogue: 0,0:10:16.30,0:10:18.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and flesh tones are rendered with incredible realism.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:20.72,0:10:23.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The goddess can now go on open display
Dialogue: 0,0:10:23.95,0:10:25.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in noblemen’s houses,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:25.95,0:10:27.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and even look back boldly at viewers!
Dialogue: 0,0:10:29.77,0:10:32.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As time goes on, she becomes steadily heavier,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:34.05,0:10:36.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,posing suggestively,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:36.62,0:10:37.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,laden with jewels...
Dialogue: 0,0:10:37.90,0:10:40.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- and sometimes more courtesan than goddess.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:42.60,0:10:44.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Botticelli’s vision is a thing of the past,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:44.72,0:10:48.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and only makes a comeback in the nineteenth century,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:49.60,0:10:51.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which, as we know, is schizophrenic:
Dialogue: 0,0:10:51.72,0:10:54.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Never have so many female nudes been painted…
Dialogue: 0,0:10:54.22,0:10:57.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,... while people insistently proclaim that this is art,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:57.75,0:10:59.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and must be viewed dispassionately
Dialogue: 0,0:11:00.42,0:11:06.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“*with the purity of little children, who play naked together with no sense of shame”*
Dialogue: 0,0:11:06.62,0:11:10.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The female body must remain chaste, without sexual connotations …
Dialogue: 0,0:11:10.37,0:11:14.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while desire is transferred to the other figures in the picture.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:14.87,0:11:16.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The effects of all this are disastrous:
Dialogue: 0,0:11:18.10,0:11:20.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the resulting scenes become farcical,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:20.92,0:11:23.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while rolling eyes,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:23.07,0:11:25.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and swivelling hips
Dialogue: 0,0:11:25.52,0:11:28.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,constantly remind us that these “sexless” nudes
Dialogue: 0,0:11:28.87,0:11:32.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are seething cauldrons of repressed sensuality, likely to boil over from one moment to the next!
Dialogue: 0,0:11:36.72,0:11:38.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Enough is enough!
Dialogue: 0,0:11:38.32,0:11:40.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A group of English artists and intellectuals
Dialogue: 0,0:11:40.22,0:11:42.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,attempt to find out where the trouble really started -
Dialogue: 0,0:11:43.85,0:11:46.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and trace the problem back to Raphael,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:46.07,0:11:48.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose contempt for simplicity and truth,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:48.95,0:11:51.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and taste for pompous, artificial poses
Dialogue: 0,0:11:51.15,0:11:53.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they roundly denounce.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:53.80,0:11:59.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Having settled scores with Raphael, they enthusiastically rediscover the *quattrocento *- particularly Botticelli! -
Dialogue: 0,0:11:59.22,0:12:01.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the sweet simplicity of his scenes
Dialogue: 0,0:12:02.27,0:12:03.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bodies
Dialogue: 0,0:12:04.50,0:12:06.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,restrained gestures
Dialogue: 0,0:12:06.97,0:12:10.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and melancholy, introspective faces.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:11.25,0:12:14.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For them, this hesitant, shy Venus
Dialogue: 0,0:12:14.62,0:12:17.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is beautiful because she inspires, not desire,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:17.30,0:12:19.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but tenderness.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:19.30,0:12:21.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By the end of the century, the matter is settled:
Dialogue: 0,0:12:21.82,0:12:25.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,reproductions of The Birth of Venus take British homes by storm,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:25.52,0:12:29.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Victorian England welcomes her as the acceptable face of sex:
Dialogue: 0,0:12:29.67,0:12:31.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a woman who combines surpassing grace
Dialogue: 0,0:12:31.85,0:12:34.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the restraint on which decency depends.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:35.80,0:12:38.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is where the goddess’s last transformation starts:
Dialogue: 0,0:12:38.62,0:12:41.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a woman with a figure men might dream of,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:41.77,0:12:43.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who also seems blissfully unthinking.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:44.42,0:12:48.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If Venus again excites desire, she now does so as a sex object,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:48.62,0:12:51.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose only function is to feed male fantasies.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:52.30,0:12:55.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alain Jacquet is not simply basing a visual pun on cockle shell and oil company,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:55.67,0:12:59.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when he turns her into a petrol pump.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:00.37,0:13:03.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He is also implying that she is now a utilitarian object,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:03.25,0:13:05.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that satisfying male desire is her purpose.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:09.80,0:13:11.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, to understand who she really is,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:11.77,0:13:14.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we need to look beyond cliché and context,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:14.07,0:13:16.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and follow her
Dialogue: 0,0:13:17.05,0:13:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,back to her origins.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:19.45,0:13:24.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we do that, we may at last understand and feel the full seductive power of a picture
Dialogue: 0,0:13:24.55,0:13:27.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which gives us a universal vision of perfect beauty
Dialogue: 0,0:13:27.30,0:13:31.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- and which celebrates birth and life itself as well.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:32.93,0:13:35.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Next episode: Marie-Antoinette and her children by Vigée-Lebrun
Dialogue: 0,0:13:35.75,0:13:38.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A PR exercise?
Dialogue: 0,0:13:38.24,0:13:44.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Find more informations on: www.canal-educatif.fr
Dialogue: 0,0:13:45.10,0:13:48.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Written & directed by
Dialogue: 0,0:13:48.10,0:13:51.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Produced by:
Dialogue: 0,0:13:51.10,0:13:54.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Scientific advisor:
Dialogue: 0,0:13:54.11,0:13:57.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This film was made possible thanks to the support of sponsors (including you?) and of the French Ministry of Culture
Dialogue: 0,0:13:57.10,0:14:00.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover
Dialogue: 0,0:14:00.10,0:14:03.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Editing and motion effects:
Dialogue: 0,0:14:03.10,0:14:06.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Postproduction and sound recording:
Dialogue: 0,0:14:06.11,0:14:09.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Musical selection:
Dialogue: 0,0:14:09.10,0:14:12.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Music
Dialogue: 0,0:14:12.10,0:14:15.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Special thanks \NEnglish subtitles: Vincent Nash
Dialogue: 0,0:14:15.10,0:14:18.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Photographic credits
Dialogue: 0,0:14:18.10,0:14:18.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Un production CED