Simonetta Vespucci - Possible Depictions in Art

Possible Depictions in Art

• Portrait of a Woman by the workshop of Sandro Botticelli, early-mid 1480s.

• Portrait of a Woman by the workshop of Sandro Botticelli, mid-1480s.

• Portrait of a woman, said to be of Simonetta Vespucci by Piero di Cosimo, circa 1490.

• Flora in Botticelli's Birth of Venus

• Detail of one of the Three Graces in Primavera by Botticelli

• Detail of the Venus figure in Primavera by Sandro Botticelli, circa 1482.

• Detail of the Venus figure in The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, circa 1484-1486.

• A Satyr mourning over a Nymph by Piero di Cosimo, circa 1495.

Regarding each Portrait of a Woman pictured above that is credited to the workshop of Sandro Botticelli, Ronald Lightbown claims they were creations of Botticelli's workshop that were likely neither drawn nor painted exclusively by Botticelli himself. Regarding these same two paintings he also claims "shop...executed portraits of ninfe, or fair ladies...all probably fancy portraits of ideal beauties, rather than real ladies."

She may be depicted in the painting by Piero di Cosimo titled Portrait of a woman, said to be of Simonetta Vespucci that portrays a woman as Cleopatra with an asp around her neck and is alternatively titled by some individuals Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci. Yet how closely this resembles the living woman is uncertain, partly because if this is indeed a rendering of her form and spirit it is a posthumous portrait created about fourteen years after her death. Worth noting as well is the fact that Piero di Cosimo was only fourteen years old in the year of Vespucci's death. The museum that currently houses this painting questions the very identity of its subject by titling it "Portrait of a woman, said to be of Simonetta Vespucci", and stating that the inscription of her name at the bottom of the painting may have been added at a later date.