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
Saint Augustine in His Study (Botticelli, Ognissanti) Saint Augustine in His Study (Botticelli, Ognissanti) Saint Augustine in His Study is a painting of Augustine of Hippo executed in 1480 by the Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli. It is in the church of Ognissanti in Florence. Botticelli was born in a house in the same street as the church, still called Via Borgo Ognissanti. He was to live within a minute or two's walk of this all his life, and to be buried in the church. In 1464 Botticelli's father bought a house in Via Nuova nearby (modern Via della Porcellana), which Sandro took over in 1470 and