Giovanni Maria Benzoni, 1809-1873. “Zephyr Dancing with Flora.” Marble sculpture on decorative base. 1870. Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan; accession number 16.8, gift of Mrs. Cameron D. Waterman. — FloraZephyr2.0001_Benzoni
Zephyr wears no clothing and Flora’s sheer gown only covers his modesty, as the two dance elegantly around a basket of flowers. In allegorical myth (Ov. Fasti 5.173 ff. and elsewhere), Zephyr’s warm breath blown upon Chloris transforms her into Flora. The most famous depiction of this is probably Botticelli’s Primavera (FloraZephyr1.0003_Botticelli).
OGCMAonline, s.v. “Flora and Zephyr” — FloraZephyr1.0000_Reid.htm
Bibliography and links:
Detroit Institute of Arts online collection: https://www.dia.org/art/collection/object/zephyr-dancing-flora-34628
OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1400 – 1990’s, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.
