The real woman behind Botticelli’s 'Birth of Venus' died at only 23

Mystery of Botticelli’s Venus May Be Solved After 500 Years

Flora in The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain The woman whose face inspired Sandro Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” may have died of a tumor that grew inside her skull, a new study suggests. Simonetta Vespucci was only 23 when she died in 1476, and historians have puzzled over the cause for more than 500 years. Researchers now say a tumor on her pituitary gland likely ruptured and brought on her sudden …

The Model for Botticelli’s Venus Died at 23

The Model for Botticelli’s Venus Died at 23: And researchers have a new theory for her untimely demise

The real woman behind Botticelli’s 'Birth of Venus' died at only 23

Scientists have a new theory about what killed Renaissance muse Simonetta Vespucci