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The identification of the sitter is based on the old, but probably not original, inscription on the windowsill at the bottom of the picture Smeralda di M.Bandinelli Moglie di VI... Bandinelli, who has been identified as the grandmother of the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli. It is likely that the inscription was added at a later date, as the sculptor only took that surname in 1530.On the evidence of the inscription, the portrait may be of Esmeralda (Smeralda) Donati Brandini, the wife of Viviano Brandini, mother of the prominent Florentine goldsmith Michelangelo de Viviano de Brandini of Gaiuole, and grandmother of the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli (the son of Michelangelo and his noble wife Catarina, a daughter of Taddeo Ugolino). From archive documents it is known that in 1469 Smeralda was 30; her husband Viviano 38; their children Michelangelo 12, Giovanbatista 2, and Lucrezia 10.It has been suggested that the portrait was painted by one of Botticelli's assistants during the 1470s. William Michael Rossetti said: "Leading critics will now have it that the portrait is not the work of Botticelli himself, but of someone for whom they have invented the name 'Amico di Sandro'". The Victoria & Albert Museum attributes the painting to Botticelli himself. It was once suspected that the portrait was one of Ignazio Hugford II's forgeries.
goldsmith William Michael Rossetti Smeralda Baccio Bandinelli Ignazio Hugford II Amico di Sandro