Description
Inspired by the “Portrait of a Young Woman” painted by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, executed between 1480 and 1485. This painting is described as to be an ideally beautiful young woman mythologised as a nymph or goddess, The art historian Aby Warburg first suggested the painting was an idealised portrait of Simonetta Vespucci. Nicknamed la bella Simonetta, she was an Italian noblewoman from Genoa, the wife of Marco Vespucci of Florence and the cousin-in-law of Amerigo Vespucci. She was known as the greatest beauty of her age in Italy,
I painted this piece in memory of my cousin, Veronique Azan, great kathak dancer. She is dancing with all her powerful grace in the medallón of this idealised portrait. This portrait of Botticeli reminds me of all the amazingly beautiful women in my life. It is kept in Bali in the hands of a very special person.
