Nature Communications, 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-72566-7.
How did Botticelli’s model really die?
Credit: Sandro Botticelli/Public domain
Credit: Sandro Botticelli/Public domain
One of the most famous works of the 15th century painter Sandro Botticelli is the Birth of Venusdepicting the naked, newborn goddess standing on a giant scallop shell. The model for the painting (disputed by some historians) was supposedly Simonetta Vespucci (née Cattaneo), a beauty recognized in Florentine high society whom Botticelli greatly admired. He painted it five times before his untimely death when he was in his early 20s. His open coffin was carried through the streets of Florence. the poet Poliziano He nicknamed her “the incomparable” (The Sans Par).
Simonetta was long believed to have succumbed to tuberculosis, but in 2019, Paolo Pozzilli of Queen Mary University of London and several co-authors argued that she may have suffered from a pituitary tumor (adenoma) that gradually increased in size due to secretions of prolactin and growth hormone, citing its appearance in several portraits as evidence. This could have caused a sudden fatal stroke related to the tumor.
Pozzilli et al. They have now expanded their analysis in a paper published in the journal Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism. For example, they examined letters between Simonetta’s father-in-law, Piero Vespucci, and Lorenzo de Medici, which described how Simonetta had collapsed during a dance a few days before her death. His symptoms included headache, hallucinations, vomiting and high fever, all symptoms of a rapidly expanding pituitary tumor, according to the authors. Pozzilli et al. I also think that the tumor would explain the irregular position of the eyes in the Birth of Venussuggesting that the model had strabismus or misalignment of the eyes, which will be the subject of future investigations.
Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, 2026. DOI: 10.1002/edm2.70261.
