Most people have seen the Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli- It’s very famous. The first full length nude exhibited in Europe since antiquity was bound to cause a stir. I remember having to study the history and technique of the painting, and I remember learning that Sandro Botticelli’s real name was Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni dei Filipepi…which is a mouthful. But one of my favorite little tidbits about good ol’ Sandro is that by the time he was in his mid-20s, he assumed the surname “Botticelli”, like a pen name! It meant “little barrel”.
Watch out craft distillers…never underestimate the influence of a little barrel!
Watch out craft distillers…never underestimate the influence of a little barrel!Sandro Botticelli’s father worked as a tanner in Florence during the mid-15th century. Sandro’s older brother, Giovanni, was a stoutly-built trade broker who loved his drink. Giovanni earned the nickname “Botticello”, meaning “small barrel”, so when an even smaller Sandro came along, he was dubbed “Botticelli”! The name stuck, so Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni dei Filipepi became known as Sandro Botticelli. I also love that Sandro and his brothers lived on the Via Nuova (today, the Via della Porcellana), and one of his neighbors was Amerigo Vespucci- You know, the guy the Americas were named after? Amerigo’s cousin, Marco, was married to the beautiful woman depicted in Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus”. Simonetta Vespucci, or “la bella Simonatta”, was known to be the great beauty of Genoa, Italy. I can only imagine how she’d feel knowing that she’s one of the most famous naked women in the world…
I kind of love that “Little Barrel” painted a great beauty arriving by sea. As a whiskey geek and lover of art history, I can’t help but picture small barrels of whiskey being ferried across the sea by the wind god, Zephyr, to the New World- to America.
