This is, of course, one of the most iconic images in the history of western art. 这是，当然，西洋艺术史中最具标志性的图像之一。

Venus is fabulously beautiful. How could it be otherwise? 维纳斯是难以至信地美丽。怎么可能不这样觉得呢？

So she stands radically naked in a Renaissance painting not in a Christian context here. 所以她完全赤裸地站在这里一幅不在基督教脉络中的文艺复兴画作里。

Until, really, this point in the Renaissance, the only time you would see nude was Eve, but here... 直到，真的，在文艺复兴的这时期，你会看到裸体的唯一机会是夏娃，但这里...

This is not Eve. 这不是夏娃。

No, Botticelli's portrayed the ancient goddess of love, Venus. 不是，波提切利绘出古代爱神－－维纳斯。

...which was actually a copy of an even earlier ancient Greek sculpture, which was known sometimes as the Modest Venus, ...这其实是一个甚至更早期古希腊雕像的仿作，这有时以《含羞维纳斯》为人所知，

and which was actually in the collection of the Medici. 这其实是在麦地奇家族的收藏中。

We think that this painting might have actually been for one of the Medici court, 我们认为这幅画也许其实是要给麦地奇的其中一座宫殿，

perhaps even for a cousin of Lorenzo de' Medici. 也许甚至是要给伦罗佐麦地奇的一位表亲。

So Venus stands in the middle. She's born of the sea and seems to be being pushed in by the winds, 所以维纳斯站在中间。她从海洋诞生，看似被风推动，

the Zephyrs that are personified on the left. She stands on a seashell, or almost stands on a seashell. 也就是在左侧拟人化的风神。她站在贝壳上，或几乎站在贝壳上。

There's so much impossibility in this painting. 在这幅画里有太多的不可能性。

And when she gets to the shore, she'll be received by an attendant that's ready to wrap her nude body. 然后当她走到岸边，她将会由一名准备好裹覆她赤裸身躯的侍女接待。

But we're, I think, delighted that she hasn't gotten there yet because the body is just so beautiful. 但我们是，我认为，很开心她还没走到那儿，因为那身躯就是如此美丽。

It's so sensuous, and it's an impossible kind of pose. It's not really contrapposto. 那是如此充满美感，而且那是个不大可能做到的姿势。

You know, there's this extraordinary curve to the body that I think... 那是非常人体比例不协调的。你知道，有这个身体异常的弧线，我觉得...

I suggest that she's got a very flexible kind of skeletal structure. 我认为她有种非常灵活的骨骼构造。

And even the Zephyrs who are those winds that blow her to shore are intertwined in impossible ways. 甚至风神，就是那些吹动她到岸边的风，也以不可能的方式交缠。

And every figure here floats. 且这里每个角色都是飘在空中的。

When we look at Renaissance paintings, we generally expect to see real naturalism. 当我们欣赏文艺复兴的画作时，我们通常期待看到真正的自然主义。

We expect to see figures that have weight, with bodies that make sense, existing in a realistic space. 我们期待看到有重量的人物、有合理的身躯、存在于现实的空间里。

That's what we think of when we think about the Renaissance, 那是当我们想到文艺复兴时会想到的东西，

but that's not what Botticelli gives us. 但那不是波提切利带给我们的。

Well, some art historians suggested that Botticelli is looking back to ancient Greek painting. 嗯，有些美术史学家认为波提切利正在回顾古希腊的画作。

And the only painting, really, that Botticelli would have available to him from the classical Greek tradition would have been vase painting, 而真的，波提切利唯一能从古典希腊传统找到的画作会是瓶画，

where figures are often isolated against the ground. 其中人物通常都与地面分离。

This is really a freeze. 这真的是个定格动作。

All the figures, and this is very much a Botticelli characteristic, are pushed forward, and... 所有人物都被往前推向前景，这是非常波提切利的特性，而且...

Kind of occupying a single plane. 有点像佔住了一个单平面。

That's right! And they are sort of isolated, these three groupings. 没错!且他们有点孤立，这三组人物。

And you can always imagine them as line painting on a vase. 而且你总是可以把它们想像成花瓶上的线图。

In fact, this painting is really linear. 事实上，这幅画是非常依赖线条的。

And because of the patterning, because of the quality of the linear, it sort of defies space. 而因为那结构、因为那线条的特形，它有点违反空间。

I mean, yes, we can look into the deep space, but this is not a Masaccio. 我是说，是的，我们可以望进那深度空间，但这不是马萨乔(意大利画家)。

The attempt here is to really de-emphasize deep space and to, instead, create a sense of pattern, create a sense of beauty. 这里的尝试是要确实降低深度空间的重要性，转而创造出格局感，创造出美感。

This is a painting, presumably, and we're just guessing. We don't know. 理论上来说，这是一幅画，而我们只是在猜测。我们不知道。

It is really about beauty. Perhaps in the neo-Platonic sense, both beauty is physical and sensual as erotic, 这确实有关美感。也许是新柏拉图派的概念，美感，正如情欲般既是形体上又刺激感官的，

but that leads one to his notion of divine beauty. 但那将一个人引导至他对神圣美感的概念。

Right, there are two kinds of beauty, and that through a contemplation of physical beauty we can arrive at divine beauty. 没错，有两种美感，而透过形体美感的沉思，我们可以到达神圣的美感。

Botticelli is creating a kind of beauty that is a result of, of course, the narrative; 波提切利正在创造出一种美感，当然，那是叙事的结果；

it's a result of the elegance of the figure herself, but also through the use of pattern, through a kind of purely decorative quality. 那也是人物她本身优雅的结果，但同样是透过构图的使用、透过一种纯粹装饰的特性。

We can see that especially in the traces of gold that he's placed in her hair, in the trees to the right. 我们可以看到那点特别是他放在她发丝中、放在右侧树中的金色轮廓。

There's a kind of sensuality here that's irresistible, right? 这里有一种无法抗拒的感官享受，对吧？

The pink flowers, fluttering between Venus and the Zephyr; 那粉红色的花朵，在维纳斯及风神之间飘动；

the beautiful lines that create the waves; the lines from her hair; that fluttering drapery. 那创造出海浪的美丽线条；她发丝中的线条；那摇荡的布料。

It's a beautiful world that we want to enter. 那是个我们想要进入的美丽世界。