Vanessa (butterfly) Vanessa (butterfly) Vanessa is a genus of brush-footed butterflies in the tribe Nymphalini. It has a near-global distribution and includes conspicuous species such as the red admirals (e.g., red admiral, Indian red admiral, New Zealand red admiral), the Kamehameha, and the painted ladies of subgenus "Cynthia": painted lady, American painted lady, West Coast lady, Australian painted lady, etc. For African admirals see genus, "Antanartia". Recently, several members traditionally considered to be in the genus "Antanartia" have been determined to belong within the genus "Vanessa". The name of the genus may have been taken from the character Vanessa in Jonathan Swift's
Vanessa (Millais painting) been described as an "almost violently modern" handling of paint. Esther Vanhomrigh is known as "Swift's Vanessa" because of the fictional name he gave her when he published their correspondence. The portrait is wholly imaginary. No image of Esther Vanhomrigh survives and we know very little about her actual appearance, although she was said "not to be a beauty". She is holding a letter, presumably written to or from Swift. Her sad expression is related to the fraught nature of the relationship, which was broken up by Swift's relationship with another woman, Esther Johnson, whom he called "Stella", whom he