The Birth of Venus
In his "Observer" column of 22 March 2009, Bayley claimed polemically that: "Botticelli's model for "The Birth of Venus" was a common Florentine hooker called Simonetta Vespucci, painted nude to titillate his client". He was arguing against the motion that: "Britain has become indifferent to beauty" proposed by Roger Scruton and David Starkey, who held an image of "The Birth of Venus" next to an image of the British supermodel Kate Moss, in order to demonstrate how "cruddy" British culture is.