Simonetta Vespucci - The Face That Launched A Thousand Prints

The visage of a ravishing, young lady seems once more and once again in the art of Sandro Botticelli, Early Italian Renaissance painter. It is a face that is just about as familiar to art lovers all over the planet as that of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Botticelli's model for his most popular art operate, The Birth of Venus, was the attractive Simonetta Vespucci. After nominated "The Queen of Beauty" at a Florentine jousting tournament, it was Simonetta's face that Botticelli painted on an art banner that was carried into battle by the tournament winner, Giuliano de' Medici, a man quickly to develop into her lover. Inscribed beneath her image, Botticelli described her as "the unparalleled one."

Shortly Once her arrival in Florence, Simonetta became identified as "La Bella Simonetta," attracting the consideration of poets and artists like Botticelli. They vied to honor her with their artistic creations. At the age of fifteen, Simonetta married a cousin of Amerigo Vespucci, the well-known Italian explorer for whom America was named. It was by way of the Vespucci household connection that Simonetta 1st met Botticelli and the Medici family members, prominent political figures and art patrons. Giuliano de' Medici was the younger brother of Lorenzo de' Medici, a wealthy aristocrat who was referred to by his admirers as "Il Magnifico" or Lorenzo the Magnificent for his generosity and lavish life style.

Simonetta, "the unparalleled one," personified excellent beauty.

The personification of perfect beauty was an significant notion to Italian Renaissance artists like Botticelli who believed that outward beauty reflected inner beauty or virtue (spiritual beauty). Simonetta died young in 1476 at the age of twenty-two from tuberculosis, but Botticelli continued to function her image in his art for the subsequent 3 decades. All of Botticelli's female art photos have been portraits of Simonetta, her face even appearing various instances inside some compositions. At some time ahead of his death thirty-4 years later, Botticelli requested to be buried at Simonetta's feet. His request was granted and each are interred in the Vespucci parish church of Chiesa d'Ognissanti in Florence, Italy.

Brenda Harness is a practicing artist, art historian, and former university lecturer writing about a range of subjects pertaining to art and art history. Take a look at her at Fine Art Touch.

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