The Birth of Venus (Bouguereau) composition, resembles a previous rendition of this subject, Sandro Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus", as well as Raphael's "The Triumph of Galatea". "The Birth of Venus" was created for the Paris Salon of 1879. It was awarded the Grand Prix de Rome, and was purchased by the state for the Musée du Luxembourg. The painting is now in the permanent collection of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. At the center of the painting, Venus stands nude on a scallop shell being pulled by a dolphin, one of her symbols. Fifteen putti, including Cupid and Psyche, and several nymphs and centaurs
Portrait of a Lady Known as Smeralda Brandini "* The same Lady, here surrounded by the masque of Spring, is evidently the subject of a portrait by Botticelli formerly in the Pourtales collection in Paris. This portrait is inscribed "Smeralda Bandinelli"". Rossetti's suggestion that the portrait depicted the model Botticelli used for his "Spring" now seems unlikely. Portrait of a Lady Known as Smeralda Brandini The Portrait of Smeralda Brandini is a tempera on panel painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli of about 1475, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (museum no. CAI.100). The identification of the sitter is based on the old, but probably