Lady with an Ermine
| Lady with an Ermine | |
|---|---|
| Italian: Dama con l'ermellino, Polish: Dama z gronostajem | |
 |
|
| Artist | Leonardo da Vinci |
| Year | 1489–90 |
| Type | Oil on wood panel |
| Subject | Cecilia Gallerani |
| Dimensions | 54 cm × 39 cm (21 in × 15 in) |
| Location | Wawel Royal Castle National Art Collection, Kraków |
Lady with an Ermine (Italian: Dama con l'ermellino [ˈdaːma kon lermelˈliːno], literally "Lady with the Ermine") is a painting by Leonardo da Vinci from around 1489–1490. The subject of the portrait is Cecilia Gallerani, painted at a time when she was the mistress of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, and Leonardo was in the service of the duke. The painting is one of only four portraits of women painted by Leonardo, the others being the Mona Lisa, the portrait of Ginevra de' Benci, and La belle ferronnière. Currently displayed at the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków, Poland, the painting was bought in 2016 by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Czartoryski Foundation for the National Museum in Kraków and is soon to be moved to the museum's main building.
The small portrait generally called The Lady with the Ermine was painted in oils on wooden panel. At the time of its painting, the medium of oil paint was relatively new to Italy, having been introduced in the 1470s.
The subject has been identified with reasonable certainty as Cecilia Gallerani, who was the mistress of Leonardo's employer, Ludovico Sforza.
Cecilia Gallerani was a member of a large family that was neither wealthy nor noble. Her father served for a time at the Duke's court. At the time her portrait was painted, she was about 16 years old and was renowned for her beauty, her scholarship, and her poetry. She was married at approximately age six to a young nobleman of the house of Visconti, but she sued to annul the marriage in 1487 for undisclosed reasons and the request was granted. Cecilia became the mistress of the Duke and bore him a son, even after his marriage to another woman 11 years previously, Beatrice d'Este. Beatrice was promised to the Duke when she was only 5, and married him when she was 16 in 1491. After a few months, she discovered the Duke was still seeing Cecilla, and forced the Duke to break off their relationship by marrying her off to a local count named Bergamino.
...
Wikipedia