Like many famous works of art of the Italian Renaissance, Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus (1485) is larger than life. The painting, which shows the Roman goddess of beauty emerging from a shell accompanied by other deities, has been described as an allegory of love and rebirth, with the central figure leaving behind the offensive, sensual nakedness of man in favor of divine purity and nobility.
However, this interpretation is only part of the story. Like other Renaissance artists, Botticelli worked with a select group of models, and the Venus of this work is said to be modelled on his favourite artist, a certain Simonetta Vespucci.
Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (ca. 1845). Photo: Uffizi, The Yorck Project.
A noblewoman who probably came from Genoa or Porto Venere (Venus Harbor), Vespucci—a cousin of the famous explorer Amerigo Vespucci—moved to Florence with her husband Marco around 1469. Although she was only 16 years old, she immediately gained a reputation as the most beautiful woman in Italy and artists came in droves to capture her face.
Botticelli was not the only artist in Florence to ask Vespucci to model for him. During her brief stay in the city, she also posed for portraits by Piero di Cosimo, who once painted her as Cleopatra, and served as inspiration for the poems of Luigi Pulci and Lorenzo the Magnificent.
Another big fan was Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici, head of the Medici banking family and, after the murder of his brother Giuliano, de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence from 1478 to 1492. During his lifetime, Giuliano fought with Lorenzo for Vespucci’s affections, showered her with valuable gifts and once took part in a city-wide knights’ tournament with a banner painted by Botticelli on which Vespucci was called “La Sans Pareille” – “The Incomparable”.
Piero di Cosimo, Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci (1490). Photo: Google Arts Project.
Nevertheless, Botticelli may have been Vespucci’s greatest admirer, ensuring that her appearance was associated in history with that of the goddess Venus herself. Interestingly, however, Botticelli did not complete The Birth of Venus until about 10 years after Vespucci’s death. While the artist reached the (relatively) old age of 65 and died in 1510, Vespucci died suddenly at the age of only 22. Historical documents show that after her death there was a period of mourning lasting months throughout Florence.
It is worth noting that not all art historians believe that Vespucci served as inspiration for The birth of Venus. Historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto argues that the “vulgar assumption” that she was the model for “all his famous beauties” seems to rest on no better foundation than the feeling that the most beautiful woman of the time must have been the model for the most sensitive painter.”
On the other hand, the facial features of Botticelli’s Venus match those of the portraits for which Vespucci posed. We also know that Botticelli loved Vespucci so much that he asked to be buried at her feet after his death. Today, in fact, his tomb is located next to Vespucci’s tomb in the Ognissanti Church in Florence.
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