The Platonic Academy of Philosophy was the center of humanist study in Florence, Italy. It was found by Cosimo de'Medici in 1462 and supported by his grandson Lorenzo thereafter. The Academy supported Neoplatonism which wanted to achieve the return of Platonic ideas in contemporary culture. Ficino, the head of the academy, after translating Plato and Plotinus into Latin wrote Theologia Platonica. He believed that by studying and learning we could glimpse a higher world of ideas. “Following Plotinus, Ficino conceived of beauty in the things of this world as God's means of making himself manifest to humankind. The contemplation and study of beauty in nature — and in all things — was a form of worship, a manifestation of divine or spiritual love...spiritual love moves beyond the physical to an intellectual plane and, eventually, to such an elevated spiritual level that it results in the soul's union with God.” (Benton and DiYanni 310).
Sandro Botticelli's Birth of Venus, 1528–1530 represents the ideals of the Platonic Academy of Philosophy because the Neoplatonic community believed that it represented the birth of a new human soul, pure and uncorrupted by the world. They also believed that it represented the soul's right to choose their own path. One path being sin and the other being spiritual perfection as shown in the beauty of creation and the love of God.
Works Cited:
Benton, Janetta Rebold, and Robert DiYanni. Arts and Culture: an Introduction to the Humanities. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
