Happy November 5th!

Have you heard? It’s National Redhead Day! I hope you are all celebrating your favorite redheads. May I recommend gingerbread cookies? Or red velvet cake? Carrottop cake? I’m certain you wouldn’t pick a fight today, but just in case- do you know how to punch a redhead? Gingerly.

Here is one of my favorite paintings of a redhead (there are so many! Don’t worry. This will definitely not be my last post about redheads.)

Venus: not your average scandalous redhead.

This was maybe commissioned by the Medici family, maybe not, but it is still housed in the Uffizi Gallery. Botticelli made waves by creating such a large painting of a Greek mythological scene (the painting is 6’x9’). Apparently, that was quite rare during the Italian Renaissance, as was having a nude female as the central figure. There is no record of whether Sandro Botticelli painted this in celebration of National Redhead Day.

Venus’ backstory is an interesting one. Cronus conquered his dad (Uranus), castrated him and threw his genitals into the ocean, fertilizing it and creating our girl, Venus. That is Zephyrus (god of the east wind) on the far left breathing life into her and blowing her to land. He is embracing a nymph because, like all Greek gods, he was a womanizer. The other redhead (on the right) is an Hour The Hours controlled the seasons- I trust she was there to give Venus a hat and mittens.

Do you have a favorite redhead painting? There are a bunch to choose from, and some of the redheads are even wearing clothes!