The Lady with an Ermine

The Lady with an Ermine is a 1485 painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Its subject is Cecilia Gallerani, the mistress of Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. The painting is one of only four female portraits Leonardo painted (the other three being the Mona Lisa, the portrait of Ginevra de' Benci and La Belle Ferronière). Despite sustaining much damage – a door in the background was overpainted, a transparent veil on the model's head was turned into an extravagant hairdo and several fingers were grossly retouched – it is nonetheless in better condition than many of Leonardo's other paintings. As in many of Leonardo's portraits, the composition comprises a pyramidic spiral and the sitter is caught in the motion of turning to her left, reflecting Leonardo's life-long preoccupation with the dynamics of movement. The three-quarter profile portrait was one of his many innovations. Il Moro's court poet, Bernando Bellincioli, was the first to propose that Cecilia is poised as if listening to an unseen speaker. This work in particular shows da Vinci's expertise in painting the human form. The outstretched hand of Cecilia was painted with great detail. Da Vinci paints every contour of each fingernail, each wrinkle around her knuckles, and even the flexing of the tendon in her bent finger. Da Vinci had practiced drawing portraits of humans with animals in his journals many times in order to perfect his portraits.