Description
Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci portrays Cecilia Gallerani holding a pale animal against her body. Her head turns beyond the frame, giving the portrait a sense of attention directed toward someone outside the picture. Light models her face and hand, bringing the figure forward from the darker background.
Painted around 1490, the portrait belongs to the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków. Cecilia was associated with the court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan; the ermine has been interpreted as an allusion both to the duke and to her name. The relationship between the turning sitter and the animal gives the image its distinctive combination of lifelike presence and symbolic meaning.
Collection reference: National Museum in Kraków, Lady with an Ermine.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Leonardo da Vinci collection.
