Botticelli's Venus hides a lung, claims plastic surgeon

Italian plastic surgeon Davide Lazzeri has published a study in the journal Acta Biomedica claiming that Sandro Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" (1482–1485, Uffizi, Florence) contains a hidden anatomical depiction of a human lung. According to Lazzeri, the cloak held by the goddess Flora, who reaches to cover Venus as she arrives on Cyprus, outlines the shape of a right lung, complete with the pulmonary hilum. The dark pink color of the fabric echoes lung parenchyma, and the unusual drapery near Flora's left arm mimics the indentation where bronchi, blood vessels, and nerves enter. Lazzeri interprets the lung as a Neoplatonic allegory for the cycle of life generated by divine breath, a philosophy circulating in Medici circles. He notes that a prior study by Blech and Doliner found two lungs hidden in Botticelli's "Primavera" behind Venus. Lazzeri also suggests the lung may reference the tuberculosis death of Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci, the noblewoman who inspired Venus's face. Lazzeri, a surgeon at Clinica Villa Salaria in Rome, has long researched medicine in art. He calls his interpretation personal and speculative but consistent with earlier findings.