GajimaruClassics.Preferences stay on this device. Reveal a painting without changing them.
Leonardo da Vinci · 1490
painting
Select a detail to locate it.
1490
Czartoryski Museum
Leonardo portrays Cecilia Gallerani, who was Ludovico Sforza’s mistress. The white animal she holds carries an association with Ludovico, bringing a reference to the Duke of Milan into a portrait of Cecilia.
Follow the fingers around the animal’s body. The creature is both something Cecilia holds and a heraldic reference to Ludovico. Those two roles connect the visible gesture with the portrait’s courtly context.
Cecilia Gallerani was mistress to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, when Leonardo painted her. She bore Ludovico a son, and remained his mistress even after he married Beatrice d'Este. Beatrice found out her husband was still seeing Gallerani.
The ermine in Cecilia's arms was read as Ludovico Sforza's own badge. Leonardo painted her holding the white animal close against her body, her fingers pressed into its fur.
On 29 December 2016 the painting passed to Poland's National Museum in Kraków. It hangs today in the Czartoryski Museum.
Leonardo da Vinci painted Cecilia Gallerani while she was Ludovico Sforza's mistress.
She bore Ludovico a son.
Ludovico married Beatrice d'Este, and kept seeing Cecilia anyway.
On 29 December 2016 the painting passed to Poland's National Museum in Kraków, and it hangs today in the Czartoryski Museum.
An emblem carries an association beyond the object depicted. The animal in Cecilia’s arms refers to Ludovico Sforza, connecting her gesture with the Milanese court.
