simonetta vespucci
Simonetta Vespucci died from tuberculosis in 1476. She was only twenty-three years old but already immortal.
She was born at Porto Venere (Port of Venus) in 1453 and at fifteen was wed to Florentine merchant Marco Vespucci. In Florence, her beauty inflamed the hearts of sonneteers and painters and soon there not a nobleman in the city who was not madly in love with her—among them Giuliano of the ruling Medici family. In 1475 a tournament was held, ostensibly in Giuliano's honour, but for which the motto was, “She is Incomparable.” Sandro Botticelli painted Giuliano's standards with a portrait of Simonetta and the inscription, La Sans Pareille, “The Unparalled One.” We will never know what she really looked like but a single painting suffices to suggest that the praise was not excessive. The painting is Botticelli's Birth of Venus for which Simonetta Vespucci was the model. She appears below as Cleopatra with storm and asp. The portrait, which may or may not be a good likeness, was painted by Piero di Cosimo. |