Leonardo da Vinci

Lady With An Ermine -       [Czartoryski Gallery, Kraków]

Lady With An Ermine - dimensions 54.8cm × 40.3cm - is painted on walnut board, in oil, by methods of glazing. The painted layer is smooth and uniform, the brush strokes being best visible on the ermine's coat. Here macrophotography has shown that some of the strokes could only have been made by the left hand. The specific character of using the paintbrush required that it should be moved in the direction opposite to the natural arrangement of hair if one wanted to make strokes with the right hand. These details testify to the authorship of Leonardo, who in writing was both also left- and right-handed.

The picture represents Cecelia Gallerani, mistress of Lodovico Moro, one of the most enchanting women at the court of Milan. Their love affair began when she was about sixteen years old. After the birth of their first child, in 1487, Lodovico gave his mistress the property of Saronno. The second son, born in 1491, received the title of duke. Upon his marriage to Beatrice d'Este, Lodovico had to part with Cecilia and married her to Count Carminati-Bergamini. The couple took up residence in the palace of Carmagnola, where Cecilia entertained scholars, musicians and artists in her salon.

Leonardo would probably have succumbed to Cecilia's charm and intelligence. It is thought he painted her with the ermine motif - a symbol of chastity, with a subtle link between 'Gallerani' and the Greek word for ermine, 'galé' - while she was still sixteen years old. It is likely that the picture was displayed in Cecilia's palace near Cremona until her death in 1536. No formal record exists of the whereabouts of Lady With An Ermine until the end of the 18th century.

The picture was bought by a Polish prince, Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, during his stay in Italy in 1799-1800. He in turn presented it to his mother, Isabella Czartoryska, for her collection at Pulawy, the family's estate. In 1809, the picture hung in the gallery known as the "Gothic House". After the insurrection of 1830, the Czartoryskis fled from Pulawy to Paris where, in 1842, the prince purchased the Hôtel Lambert, in which Lady With An Ermine found refuge.

The painting returned to Poland after the Prussian War. It was placed in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, founded by the prince's son, Wladyslaw Czartoryski, and opened in 1876.

The Czartoryski Museum has remained the formal home for Lady With An Ermine ever since.