Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label ancient art

Art Review: The Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci

The Lady with an Ermine is a remarkable early life portrait by Leonardo da Vinci. The subject is a teen mistress of the Duke of Milan known as Cecilia Gallerani (1473-1536) ( 1 ). She was considered extremely beautiful and was considered a poet, scholar, and lover of music. Most people found her to be funny and bubbly in personality bringing freshness of spirit to her lover. Her upbeat personality immortalized into a painting over 500 years ago.   At present the painting is hosted at the Wawel Castle in Krakow, Poland ( 2 ). It is 40.3 cm wide and 54.8 tall by dimension ( 3 ). The Lady with an Ermine is an oil painting on walnut board. It is a representation of craftsmanship that few artists experience in terms of quality, depth, simplicity and design. You can see an example in the lines that run from her arm and down the back of the animal. Leonardo was great at creating representations and symbols within his work which added to his legend.   Cecilia Gallerani is depicted l