Botticelli's Venus model may have died from pituitary tumor, study claims

A new study published in the journal Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism proposes that Simonetta Vespucci, the model believed to have inspired Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus (ca. 1484–86), died from a pituitary tumor rather than tuberculosis. The research, led by Paolo Pozzilli of Queen Mary University of London, builds on his 2017 paper that first suggested Vespucci had a prolactin-secreting pituitary adenoma. The team analyzed historical letters between Piero Vespucci and Lorenzo de' Medici describing symptoms such as headaches, hallucinations, vomiting, and fever after she collapsed at a ball. They also used facial recognition software on five portraits to confirm physical changes consistent with such a tumor. The paper speculates that the tumor may have been triggered by physical exertion at the ball or by a rape allegedly committed by Alfonso II d'Aragona, Duke of Calabria, as recounted in a poem by Lorenzo Sardi. The condition could also explain the strabismus in Botticelli's Venus, which became a Renaissance beauty ideal. Pozzilli plans to explore this further in a future paper.