A little early to post this...but fragments of the lives and feelings of the artists we study can be so valuable in understanding-connecting with their work.Historical "tid-bits" such as this helps us to remember their timeless humanity

Simonetta Vespucci
Simonetta Vespucci (1453-1476), “la bella Simonetta”, was the most beautiful woman in Florence, Italy in her day. She was so beautiful that men were still painting her more than 20 years after her death. She is the woman seen over and over again in Botticelli’s paintings, like “The Birth of Venus”.

Botticelli painted her as the Virgin Mary, Venus and Athena. Piero di Cosimo painted her as Cleopatra and Procris. Poliziano and Lorenzo the Magnificent wrote about her in verse – as did Gabriele d’Annunzio. Many other poets and painters honoured her as well with their works. She can still be seen on some money in Europe.

Tragically, the beauty died from pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 22 in April of 1476. The entire city mourned her passing and thousands followed her coffin to its burial. Boticelli was so enamored with Simonetta that he asked to be buried at her feet upon his death 34 years later.