Sandro Botticelli 1893

Editor: This is Aubrey Beardsley's drawing, "Sandro Botticelli," housed at the Harvard Art Museums. It's a rather ethereal portrait. What symbols or cultural references do you recognize here? Curator: Beardsley appropriates Botticelli's name, conjuring the Renaissance and its ideals of beauty. But notice how Beardsley's line is more attenuated, almost decadent. Do you see any hints of the fin-de-siècle aesthetic? Editor: I see it in the languid expression, a departure from Botticelli's more idealized figures. Curator: Precisely. Beardsley's image becomes a commentary on beauty, suggesting a shift in cultural values, a fascination with decay and artifice. It's a potent example of how an image can carry layers of historical and psychological meaning. Editor: That's fascinating. I never thought of it that way.