Venus on the Half-Shell assumed that Vonnegut wrote the book. This problem was solved by the book being reprinted under Farmer's by-line. A common element to this novel is the origin of many of the characters' and locations' names. Farmer "put in a lot of references to literature and fictional authors... Most of the alien names in Venus were formed by transposing the letters of English or non-English words." The title and paperback cover art are a reference to an Italian Renaissance tempera painting by Sandro Botticelli, "The Birth of Venus", which depicts the birth of the goddess Venus as her rising from the
Madonna in Glory with Seraphim (Botticelli) Madonna in Glory with Seraphim (Botticelli) Madonna in Glory with Seraphim is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, executed c. 1469-1470. It is housed in Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Some panel paintings of the Madonna by Botticelli remain from the years around 1470 which are striking expressions of Botticelli's stylistic development. Two full figure pictures of the Madonna - the "Madonna in Glory" and the "Madonna of the Rosegarden" - are in the Uffizi. They represent monumental seated figures filling the entire picture. Mary is enthroned on clouds in a glory of seraphim. The Christ Child, with