Treasures of World Painting - The Birth of Venus 2023 coin

This 1 troy ounce (31,103 grams) fine silver (99,9%) The Birth of Venus coin comes from the Treasures of World Painting series. The coin depicts the design of the painting (The Birth of Venus) by the Italian painter Sandro Botticelli, the original of which hangs in the Uffizi Gallary in the Italian city of Florence. 
 
The Birth of Venus is one of Sandro Botticelli's most famous works. It depicts the goddess of love and beauty arriving on land, on the island of Cyprus. The goddess stands on a gigantic shell, as pure and perfect as a pearl. Botticelli refers to the mythological significance of the shell. The shell was known in ancient times as the symbol of the female sexual organ, and was thus a reference to reproduction. On the right side of Venus another goddess can be seen, who hands her a cloak with flowers on it. The flowers seem to indicate that this goddess is Flora, the goddess of Spring. Spring here again symbolizes the season of fertility.
 
The coin comes in a presentation box together with the certificate of authenticity. The worldwide edition is limited to only 999 pieces.

The Birth of Venus

It is believed to have been made around 1483 or earlier, most likely commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici, made for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici's Villa di Castello. In 1550 Giorgio Vasari wrote about the painting in his book 'Le Vite', a book with biographies of the most important artists of his time. In that book he writes in the biography of Sandro Botticelli about the painting that would hang in Villa Castello at that time. In addition, another indication indicates that the client came from the Florentine banking family. The Medici had in fact appropriated the orange tree as a family symbol, and we now see this tree just next to Flora on The Birth of Venus.