The history of a certain lady and her portrait
Wednesday, March 8th, 2006The history of a painting by Leonardo da Vinci “Lady with a Weasel”, also known as “Lady with an Ermine” is doubly thrilling. One part of this history concerns the complicated life of the painted person; the other involves the dramatic fate of the painting since its purchase by the Czartoryski family.
The search for the identity of the young lady painted by Leonardo da Vinci lasted for a long time. Finally, in 1900, a polish art historian, Jan Boloz-Antoniewicz, described in detail the life of this person. He based his research on earlier discoveries in Italy. The musing girl in the picture was Cecile Gallerani. She lived during the years 1473-1536, and her family descended from Sienna, Italy. Her father, Fazio Gallerani, moved the family to Milan, where he held several political posts. He had seven children, and they all got an appropriate education. One of his daughters, Cecile, was engaged at the age of ten to Stefano Visconti who was fourteen years her elder. Cecile broke the engagement when she was fifteen. At this age she was probably living as a lady-in-waiting at the court of the prince of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, who was called Il Moro. She found herself in his court thanks to her education and many interests. She spoke Latin fluently, wrote poetry, and knew the philosophical and theological issues of the day.
(more…)
