SS Ellan Vannin (1883) SS Ellan Vannin (1883) SS (RMS) (the Manx name for the Isle of Man) was built as an iron paddle steamer in 1860 at Meadowside, Glasgow for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. She was originally named "Mona's Isle" - the second ship in the Company's history to be so named. She served for 23 years under that name before being rebuilt, re-engined and renamed in 1883. As "Ellan Vannin" she served for a further 26 years before being lost in a storm on 3 December 1909 in Liverpool Bay. "Mona's Isle" was built by Tod and McGregor Ltd,
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