Lady with an Ermine

The Lady with an Ermine is one of four of Leonardo da Vinci painted portraits of women. The painting is located since 1880 in the collection of Krakow's Czartoryski Museum.

Formation

The painting is 1489/90 in Milan as a commissioned work of Ludovico Sforza - called Il Moro - emerged. The image is 54.7 × 40.3 cm. It probably represents Cecilia Gallerani (1473-1536), who was a mistress of the Prince of Milan since 1489. It is one of the most important paintings of the changing in the Renaissance portrait art and shows some of the innovative techniques of Leonardo da Vinci on. It is very likely that this form of portraits was the model for many other artistic forms of personalities of that time.

History

The history of the image has been researched going on until the early 20th century. The unusual, centralized view of the ermine has led to a variety of theories and interpretation through art history. One theory sees the ermine (Greek galee ) as an allusion to the surname of the person portrayed: Gallerani. Others refer to the recently founded in Naples Order of the Ermine, its member Ludovico Sforza was. A third theory sees the ermine in a traditional tradition as protection of the pregnant animal, what the life of the sitter Cecilia correspond, as she brought a son named Cesare to the world in 1491.

With an X-ray examination in Washington was 1992 proved that the background originally showed a gray-blue drawing that was obviously painted over later.

The image was acquired by Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski in 1800 and his mother Izabela Czartoryska given. It was exhibited in the " Gothic cottage " in the Czartoryski residence in Pulawy. During the November Uprising in 1831 the picture was taken to Paris. Around 1880 it was acquired by the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow. 1939, immediately after the conquest of Poland, it was confiscated by the German authorities and taken to the Bode Museum in Berlin. In 1940, the Governor-General Hans Frank, the return of the painting to Krakow, where it served as a wall decoration at his residence in Wawel Castle. While escaping the picture was taken in 1944 to Germany. After the war the stolen picture in Frank's country home in Bavaria was found by American troops and returned to Krakow.

Bibliography

• Frank Zöllner: Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519. Taschen Verlag, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-8228-6363-7
• Daniela Pizzagalli: La Dama Con L' ermellino: Vita Di Cecilia Gallerani E Passioni Nella Milano Di Ludovico Il Moro. Rizzoli Editore, Milano 1999, ISBN 88-17-86073-5
• Max Seydewitz, Ruth Seydewitz: The Lady with an Ermine: The biggest art theft of all time. Henschel, Berlin 1963
• Keith Christiansen, Stefan Weppelmann, Renaissance Faces Hirmer Verlag, Munich, 2011, ISBN 978-3-88609-706-7 pp. 70ff.