Sandro Botticelli: Portrait of a Young Woman (1480-1485)

(Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany)

A painting by the Italian Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510). This painting is an idealized portrait of a lady. Her necklace has an engraved gem which is the 'Seal of Nero', a famous Roman cameo representing Apollo and the satyr Marsyas. This gem was in the collection of Lorenzo de' Medici (1449-1492), lord of Florence. The presence of this gem on this portrait places the woman in immediate circle of the Medici. It has been suggested that the woman is Simonetta Vespucci (1453-1476), a noblewoman from Genoa who was married to Marco Vespucci of Florence. She was famous for her beauty and popular at the court of the Medici. Simonetta was allegedly the model for many paintings by Sandro Botticelli. Painting from 1480-1485.