Leonardo da Vinci’s 'The Lady with an Ermine,' a Beguiling Portrait of Elegant Mystique

As the world marks the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death, we revisit one of the Italian master’s most beguiling works, The Lady with an Ermine, also known as Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani. This portrait of the 15th-century mistress of the Duke of Milan is dense with meanings and symbols – not least the eponymous ermine – and compositionally elaborate. It was also a precursor to the Mona Lisa in how it portrayed a woman’s mystique in an elegant manner.

[alexanderjimenez]

From all the masterpieces da Vinci created this is my favorite 🙏

[lucvanhecke]

This work is better than the Mona Lisa...
before 1911 la Gioconda was not a famous painting at all till it was stolen from the Louvre in 1911 and only recovered in 1913..during that time the painting got a lot of attention in the news papers... that's why it became famous more, the Mona Lisa is in France, at the lady with the Ermine is not in France...and that makes a huge difference

[edwardgyu]

so beautiful!!! i like this one more than Mona Lisa TBH :) :)

[jack]

Da Vinci's most sensual painting & Poland's treasure.

[Danielevans]

This is so cool! Seeing a technical digital analysis of a painting!!

[Mustlovebooks]

I really want to see this painting irl but I don’t ever see myself making it to Poland. It’s definitely my favorite of his paintings

[aleena]

Don't know why I was having goosebumps while watching this.

[phmwu]

Oil on wood, painted in 1490, nowadays one of Poland's national treasures in the Czartoryski museum Krakow

[LelasMum]

What a wonderful and informative explanation!

[AldoOlivera-vwir]

Larga vida al gran..

Leonardo Da Vinci


❤

[stephenshillitoe]

That is not an ermine. An ermine is typically 23-31 cm in length including it's 5.4-8.5 cm tail. They are very slightly built with a maximum weight of around 110g. In this portrait, Cecilia Gallerani is holding a large male albino ferret.

[rrfirefly]

Approx 21.5 inches by 15.75 inches. One striking detail is how small her mouth is. Typically, the width of a person's mouth lines up with the centers of the eyes above. So the proportions here show a real delicacy.

[matisseh]

hey i reach the same kind of video but in French, can you help me? Thx

[loncarevictereza]

Das ist Heilige Ana oder wer ist sie das zweites Frau bei Leonard da Vinci

[gwendolyn]

my favorite too; should have left the steel blue background. Maybe yopu can get that back

[elderlypoodle]

Gorgeous! The ermine looks quite tame. Was it a taxidermy?

[hughgordon]

Ldvic was known as "the moor" so making him a member of the ermine was an attempt to whiten him??? The ermine was also a sign 9f virtue, so by handling the ermine in the way she does she has "tamed"/conquered Leonards vertue? I love this 0a8nting on soo many levels. It is da Vincent s joker sense of humor laid out 8n 0ka8n v8ew?

[irishfairytarot]

The blue background is so much nicer! Leo would not approve!

[random]

4:17 Disclaimer being the only truth contained in this video. Good idea, Citibank!

[nakinilerak]

Cecilia Gallerani managed to make a success of her life in an age and a place that treated women as chattels with no rights. Check out her Wikipedia page.