Boticelli’s BIRTH OF VENUS*
This famous 15th century painting has been parodied, misused, and japed across the ages. When I recently encountered John Peale Bishop’s poem, A RECOLLECTION, I thought of it immediately.
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/50337-John-Peale-Bishop-A-Recollection-wbr-
The first two quatrains appear to be descriptive of the focus of this painting. After that, it gets dicier, in more ways then one, as Bishop drifts into his own fantasy world. Then we get jolted back into reality, somewhere near the fountains of Rome.
What have the Berberini Bees to do with it?
http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2008/06/bees-of-barberini-family-public.html
http://www.mmdtkw.org/VBarberiniBees.html
What was Bishop up to? Is the encoded insulting message another jape, or an incomprehensively bizarre coincidence?
Help!
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* This is a faithful photographic reproduction of an original two-dimensional work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.
