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Sandro Botticelli / Idealized Portrait of a Lady (Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci as Nymph)
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Idealized Portrait of a Lady (Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci as Nymph)

1482 · Tempera and oil on poplar wood

A Florentine noblewoman said to have inspired Botticelli's Venus is idealised here as a mythological nymph, her pearl-strung hair styled after antique sculpture.

ArtistSSandro Botticelli
MuseumSStädel Museum
MovementRRenaissance
LocationFrankfurt, Germany
Genreportrait
Dimensions81.3 × 54 cm
SourceWikidata Q4373363

Why it matters

A young woman in profile wears a cameo copied from 'Nero's Seal', an antique carnelian owned by Lorenzo de' Medici. Aby Warburg first suggested she was an idealised portrait of Simonetta Vespucci.

Did you know?

  • It was painted between 1480 and 1485.
  • Some attribute it to Jacopo da Sellaio.
  • Her tresses have been read as downward flames, since hair was thought to 'inflame desire'.

Based on the Wikipedia article Portrait of a Young Woman (Botticelli, Frankfurt) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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