I was in front of the gates of the Florence Baptistery admiring the bas-relief of the great Italian sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti. The spring was about to be reincarnated again on this bright Sunday morning and the weather was much hotter than it would have been for the time we were in. I got my lunch at a self-service via dei Pecori and was just moving to the Galleria degli Uffizi. But because I wanted to see the Gate of Paradise once again I turned to the Baptistery of Saint John.

On my way to the museum, I felt that someone was following me. From time to time, I turned my head and truly, a middle-aged man with a long hair and dressed in a type of burnished sienna colour houppelande, typical of the Florentine Renaissance, always appeared in a distance of approximately ten metres behind me. His dress resembling a clergyman seemed strange to me. My impression was that he dressed as men did in the fifteenth century in Italy.

Just when I reached the box office to pay the entrance for the museum, he cut in front of me and with a piercing and darkening voice said to the woman: do not charge him, give me two tickets. It was very clear to me that they were both acquainted.

Once in the museum, he asked me if I had had lunch and to my affirmative reply, he said: come, let’s have a coffee in the cafeteria of the museum. We sat down at a table near a window from where the famous Brunelleschi’s Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore could be seen.

Once, sitting in front of me, that character spoke in an ancient Italian language that I could understand perfectly. I considered that he was originally from Tuscany because modern Italian derived from a language spoken in Tuscany at the beginning of the Renaissance. Suddenly he told me that his name was Sandro Botticelli and that very recently he had finished the painting known as The Birth of Venus. He did not surprise me because, being seventy years old and with a long life behind me, I had seen things that now couldn’t shock me anymore. However, I was considering if I was dreaming, but no, there was the macchiato coffee that I had asked for and his cappuccino on the table.

He also told me that he was 42 years old. So I deduced that we were in the year 1485, which also coincided with the date on which he painted the famous picture.

At that moment I started to consider if that character could be the specter of the great painter and that he also must have appeared often in the museum since nobody was surprised with his presence. I was very happy to be able to converse with him and without any hesitation I asked him to go to see the picture and explain it to me.

Walking through the galleries and the rooms of the museum we went through the Primavera, also one of his best paitings. He, firmly, passed without looking at it. I, obviously, walked looking with my head turned at the picture. Once we were in front of the painting called The Birth of Venus, Sandro asked me to sit on a bench just in front of it.

Thoughtful, measuring his words, he said: I do not remember exactly for whom I painted this painting, although there are those who indicate that it was for Lorenzo the Magnificent. Do you know, he continued, I do not want to force my memory.

At that time some painters began to paint in oil on linen canvas, but I found that the technique of using egg-based tempers would better suit me and I painted it on canvas. The subject was given by the same commission and was extracted from the Theogony of the Greek poet Hesiod. We, painters, could do nothing but submit to commissions.

I have to confess that emotion was shaking me from head to toe, being able to talk to one of the greatest painters of the Quattrocento does not happen every day.

Cronus, continued Sandro, was the son of the Earth Goddess and the God Uranus, and it was Cronus himself who cut off the gonads of his father and when he threw them into the sea from the foam appeared Aphrodite, goddess of love and sexuality. Venus, he continued saying, was the Roman heiress of the Greek Goddess Aphrodite.

I composed the picture by means of a balance with a central axis determined by Aphrodite, he explained with great enthusiasm. On the left you can see Zephyr, god of the west wind, blowing Aphrodite towards the shore, while on the right a Greek Hora, goddess of the seasons, seems to want to wear Aphrodite with a cloak decorated with spring flowers. According to Hesiod himself, Aphrodite appears on a giant scallop shell. The inclination of the body without physical stability allowed me to give the rhythm of the figure, reinforced by the ripple of her hair with which she covered her pubic region. The historical moment forced me not to be able to represent the images more than with a certain eroticism. The composition is determined by a pyramid where all the lines lean towards Aphrodite's face. Although known as the Roman name of Venus, I say Aphrodite as it is its original name in Greek mythology. As you can see, he continued to say, I searched for and achieved an absolute rhythm of all forms without leaving any flat chromatic part of the painting.

While he was talking I sat down on the bench in front of the painting and leaned against the back. In no time I fell asleep. Almost unconsciously, I realized the movement of people and a bit of mumbling around me. I have no idea how long I slept, but all at once, a sweet female voice, while putting her hand on my shoulder said: wake up. I opened my eyes and in front of me was Aphrodite, dressed in the purple cloak that the Greek Hora offered to her in the picture. She was radiant. The room was completely empty and only a certain diffused light illuminated the space. Once again I thought I was dreaming, but the dream disappeared when Aphrodite took my hand and helped me to get up.

She asked me to follow her. She started walking on in front of me and I was able to contemplate the beauty of her figure, despite the clothes that fell freely around her body. I am not aware of how, but walking on about half an hour or so, suddenly we found ourselves in a green radiant bright meadow. It was a lovely place, a kind of paradise lost. I turned my eyes to the middle of the meadow and saw a tree full of fruits. Aphrodite had released the robe in the form of a tunic that covered her body and her figure appeared splendid. I could analyze and, at the same time, enjoy the shape of her body. I could not help looking and admiring her and I thought that it would be impossible to free my eyes from her body. All of a sudden, she led me to the tree and said: you can eat as many fruits as you want, they will reveal to you the desire to own me and, the more you eat, the more you want to own me sexually. She continued telling me that she could achieve the sexual desire of a man just by looking at his eyes and, at once, coming closer to me and looking steadfastly into me eyes, she told me I shall show you my soul and you will enjoy things that only Gods can experience.

The Gods, attracted by their great beauty, aspired to their sexual pleasures and many of them succeeded. She confessed to me that her best quality was to fully satisfy men. She had children of Hermes, Dionysus, and Ares, among many other gods. I listened to her, but her beauty forced me not to be able to take my eyes off her body.

So great was the attraction that she had over me that I could not help but ask her for sexual pleasures. First, she said with a lovely smile upon her face, I will instruct you in all forms of physical love. Just at that moment I thought of the Indian Wise Vatsayayana who, on the banks of the Gangues River, composed the famous Kama Sutra two thousand years ago and in which, among many other aspects of the science of carnal love, he explains Sixty four ways to do the erotic act.

The practical experience, continued Aphrodite, leads to perfection, although there are people who are masters in sexual love without knowing or having reflected on this science. Some have learned with the help of an instructor who, among others, can be a woman well equipped and familiar with these practices. You can also get it with an aunt, preferably the mother's sister or, in addition to many others; it’s worthwhile to learn with a housekeeper with many years of experience in these matters.

The woman, continued Aphrodite, must be trained in other arts to be able to make man enjoy sexual intercourse. She must know how to sing, play musical instruments and consider decorating the space with flowers and perfumes to stimulate sublime states.

She continued teaching me, saying: Try to be sensitive to the woman in order to excite her sensuality. If the woman has experience, for example a married woman two or three times, move with great delicacy before touching her. Following these forms it could happen that she would even fall in love with you and your pleasures could be sublime. Do not forget to know her thoughts and desires and move always with tenderness.

I listened to her carefully because I wanted to learn from her teachings but the attraction that her body exerted on me prevented me from focusing on her words. At this very moment, having learned everything she had taught me, I was ready for new emotions and I expected sexual pleasures from her, but suddenly, the voice of a watchman of the museum announced that they were going to close the doors and, disappointed, I awoke without ever being able to enjoy the sexual delectation I expected from her.

Jordi Rodríguez-Amat
August of 2018