Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ghirlandajo (talk | contribs) at 21:41, 6 June 2005 (enumerated some changes). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

{{Painting| image_file=The_Lady_with_an_Ermine.jpg | title=Lady with an Ermine | artist=Leonardo da Vinci | year=1485 | type=oil on wood panel | height=54 | width=39 | museum=Czartoryski Museum]], [[Kraków}}

The Lady with an Ermine is a 1485 painting by Leonardo da Vinci. It is a painting of Cecilia Gallerani, who was the mistress of Lodovico Sforza of Milan. It is one of only three female portraits he painted, and is in better condition than most of his other paintings: a door in the background was overpainted, a transparent veil on the model's head was turned to an extravagant hairdo, and several fingers were grossly retouched.

Leonardo met Cecilia Gallerani in Milan in 1484 while both were living in Castello Sforzesco, the Palace of Ludovico "Il Moro" Sforza. She was the Duke's mistress; young and beautiful (she was only 17 years old), Cecilia played music and wrote poetry. When he was commissioned to paint her portrait in 1485, he represented her holding an ermine either as a pun on her name (the Greek for ermine is galay) or because Ludovico Sforza's emblem was "L'Ermellino", though it is also read as a symbol of purity.

The painting was acquired by Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, the son of Izabela Czartoryska and Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski in Italy in 1798 and incorporated into The Czartoryskis’ family collections in 1800. The painting is currently on display at the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, Poland.

It is the inspiration for the parody Woman Holding Ferret by Leonard of Quirm in the Discworld series of books.

External links

• Czartoryski Museum
• Czartoryski Museum article about Lady with an Ermine
• BBC article on Lady with an Ermine

This art-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Visual arts stubs
• Paintings
• Leonardo da Vinci