In Rome, her festival, the Floralia, was held between April 28 and May 3 and symbolized the renewal of the cycle of life, drinking, and flowers. The festival was first instituted in 240 B.C.E, and on the advice of the Sibylline books, she was also given a temple in 238 B.C.E. At the festival, with the men decked in flowers, and the women wearing normally forbidden gay costumes, five days of farces and mimes were enacted – ithyphallic, and including nudity when called for – followed by a sixth day of the hunting of goats and hares. On May 23 another (rose) festival was held in her honor. Flora's Greek equivalent is Chloris, who was a nymph. Flora is married to Favonius, the wind god also known as Zephyr, and her companion was Hercules. Flora achieved more prominence in the neo-pagan revival of Antiquity among Renaissance humanists than she had enjoyed in ancient Rome.
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Justus Sustermans (Flemish painter, 1597-1681) Vittoria della Rovere, Grand Duchess of Tuscany as the Goddess Flora
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1620 Cornelis van Poelenburgh, (1594-1667) Woman Portrayed as Flora
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1630s Claude Vignon (1593-1670) - Goddess Flora
Paulus Moreelse (1571-1638) - Portrait of a Young Woman as Flora 1633
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Juan van der Hamen y (Gómez de) León (1596-1631) - Offering for Flora, 1627
Rosalba Carriera (Italian artist, 1675-1757) Flora
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Pierre Gobert (1662-1744) - Retrato de Noiva com Flore
Rosalba Carriera (Italian artist, 1675-1757) Flora
1685-90 Lady as Flora, by Jan van Haesbergen
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Jean-Marc Nattier (1685-1766) - Portrait of a Woman as Flora
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Angelica Kauffman (French artist, 1741-1807) Flora
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Jean-Marc Nattier (1685-1766) - Henriette of France as Flora
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Nicolas de Largillierre (French, 1656 - 1746) - Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans as Goddess Flora.
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Jean-Marc Nattier (1685-1766) - Louise Anne de Bourbon Comtesse de Charolais 1731
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Nicolas de Largillierre (French, 1656 - 1746) - Marie Therese Bloneldharau as Goddess Flora
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Nicolas de Largillierre (French, 1656 - 1746) - Portrait Of Françoise D'Escravayat, Marquise De La Barrière, As Goddess Flora
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Nicolas de Largillierre (French, 1656 - 1746) - Porträt der Marquise de Gueydan als Goddess Flora
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Gustave Jean Jacquet (French artist, 1846-1909) Flora
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Rosalba Carriera (Italian artist, 1675-1757) Flora%2B%2B-%2BRetrato%2Bde%2BNoiva%2Bcom%2BFlores.jpg)
Rosalba Carriera (Italian artist, 1675-1757) Flora
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Nicolas de Largillierre (French, 1656 - 1746) - Marie Therese Bloneldharau as Goddess Flora%2B-%2BPortrait%2BOf%2BFran%C3%A7oise%2BD'Escravayat%2C%2BMarquise%2BDe%2BLa%2BBarri%C3%A8re%2C%2BAs%2BFlora%2C.jpg)
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