Simonetta Vespucci, the woman identified with the ultimate Renaissance ideal of beauty, has been linked more than anyone else to the figure of Venus in Sandro Botticelli’s famous painting. It’s worth noting this remains a theory built on highly uncertain evidence: there is no firm proof the portraits in question actually depict Simonetta Vespucci, nor that she was Botticelli’s inspiration for the famous painting at all. Simonetta Cattaneo was born in 1453 and married young to Marco Vespucci, a member of a prominent Florentine family and a relative of the explorer Amerigo Vespucci. A year later, Simonetta was dead. After his teacher’s death, Botticelli stayed close to the Lippi family, and Fra Filippo’s son, Filippino Lippi, later worked as Botticelli’s own student and collaborator.