Botticelli's muse Simonetta Vespucci likely died of tuberculosis at 23, portraits suggest

Simonetta Vespucci, the muse of Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, died suddenly in 1476 at the age of 23. Analysis of her portraits — including The Birth of Venus — reportedly reveals signs of enlarged lymph nodes on her neck, consistent with tuberculosis. Researchers suggest that Botticelli's paintings may have solved a 550-year-old medical mystery surrounding her death.