Portrait of Selene

Tempera on 23 ¾ karati pure gold ground engraved with burin, poplar board. Painting technique of the Tuscan school of the early Renaissance on a gold ground. Pure pigments taken from ancient medieval painting recipes in Tuscany.  Selene, Goddess of the Moon becomes a Venus Botticelli that recalls the painting style of Sandro Botticelli.  As in a new Renaissance Spring, Selene wears a precious cobalt blue and orange floral dress. The dress is embellished with a finely engraved pure gold choker band. Selene becomes a queen dominating nature and the bees symbolizing eternity that surround and protect her. The colors used by Silvia Salvadori are pure and precious. The emerald green in the background becomes a meadow guardian of the hive. The silk ribbons that wrap the Goddess' golden hair are caressed by the wind. The clouds above the Goddess' head recall the clouds of the Madonna in Masolino da Panicale's "Miracle of the Snow." Each element in this work becomes a master archetype and guardian of ancient and profound messages.   All of Botticelli's style lives again in a painting of extraordinary contemporaneity