Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine Puzzle

Lady with an Ermine is a small oil painting on panel, 54.8 cm x 40.3 cm, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. It dates to between 1488 and 1490, when the Tuscan painter resided with the Sforza family.

In December 2016, the work, together with the entire Czartoryski collection , was sold to the Warsaw government for just 100 million euros, creating quite a bit of controversy, as the overall value is thought to be 2 billion euros.

On May 19, 2017, the work was moved to the National Museum in Krakow.

The work is one of the paintings that symbolizes the extraordinary artistic level achieved by Leonardo da Vinci during his first stay in Milan. The circumstances of its commission are unknown, but it is generally dated shortly after 1488 at the court of Ludovico il Moro.

The history of this painting can only be reconstructed from the end of the 18th century, but many critics see it as a portrait of Cecilia Gallerani , one of the lovers of Duke Ludovico Sforza , Leonardo’s protector in Milan.
In fact, Ludovico had the ermine as his heraldic emblem and furthermore the Greek name for this animal is “galen”, a term that may have inspired a pun on Cecilia’s surname.

We also know that Leonardo painted a portrait of Cecilia because it is mentioned in a poem by Bernardino Bellincioni , Ludovico’s court poet, who died in 1492. Cecilia herself mentions it in a letter from 1498 and describes it as a portrait painted when she was still “immature.” Born around 1465, the woman was renowned for her intelligence and beauty, qualities that Leonardo captured admirably.

The painting achieves an extraordinary synthesis between movement and stillness : the lady turns her head as if she were about to address someone who is coming into the room and at the same time has the solemn imperturbability of an ancient statue.

Leonardo’s method of portraying expressive faces , masterfully simplified by the Mona Lisa, was the key element in the transition from the formalism of early Renaissance portraits to the more informal and realistic paintings of the late Renaissance.
This aspect is also fully appreciated in the edition of the Lady with an Ermine puzzle by D-Toys that we are happy to offer you.