VENUS AND MARS AT THE FITZWILLIAM

Venus and Mars by Botticelli

In the first summer sunshine yesterday I sailed into the vastness of the Fitzwilliam Museum - and a small discrete gallery suffused in warm light . There in this exclusive space I was alone with Venus and Mars, painted by the overlooked genius of Sandro Botticelli more than five hundred years ago.

It was heaven.But how had such a miraculous meeting come about ? Sheer generosity . To celebrate their 200th anniversary, the National Gallery ,in Trafalgar Square have conceived the delightful idea of inclusion. Great works of art have left the capital for the rest of the country to gaze upon. The result is a privileged experience - an intimacy with a great picture close up.

The Fitzwilliam welcomes not just your presence, but your reactions to the strangely detached pair of gorgeous people in the painting - requests to respond are to hand..

Why is she clothed and he naked? Could be Venus is a portrait of a society beauty of the time as she is certainly dressed in High Renaissance fashion, down to the braided blonde hair doubling as a collar. Italian ladies would sit on their sun roofs hair combed over vast hats to shelter the skin- but to bring on the highlights. Every detail demands attention.

As I left for the bustle of Trumpington Street I reckoned I had given myself a brief blast of top class art. The painting might not stay on - and there are other treasures to visit, but the feeling of charming exclusivity of closeness in a closet, continues upon the inward eye, which as Wordsworth told us ‘ is the bliss of solitude.’ Try it out!