The ''Lady with an Ermine'' ; pl, Dama z gronostajem). It is sometimes known as the ''Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani'', the ''Portrait of an Unknown Woman'', the ''Lady with a Ferret'', or the ''Lady with a Marten''., group=n is a
portrait painting
Portrait Painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and pr ...
widely attributed to the
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
artist
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
. Dated to , the work is painted in
oils
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
on a
panel
Panel may refer to:
Arts and media Visual arts
* Panel (comics), a single image in a comic book, comic strip or cartoon; also, a comic strip containing one such image
*Panel painting, in art, either one element of a multi-element piece of art ...
of
walnut wood. Its subject is
Cecilia Gallerani
Cecilia Gallerani (; early 1473 – 1536) was the favourite and most celebrated of the many mistresses of Ludovico Sforza, known as Lodovico il Moro, Duke of Milan. She is best known as the subject of Leonardo da Vinci's painting '' The Lady ...
, a mistress of
Ludovico Sforza ("Il Moro"),
Duke of Milan
The following is a list of rulers of Milan from the 13th century to 1814, after which it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia by the Congress of Vienna.
Before elevation to duchy
Until 1259, Milan was a free commune that elect ...
; Leonardo was painter to the Sforza court in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
at the time of its execution. It is the second of only four surviving portraits of women painted by Leonardo, the others being ''
Ginevra de' Benci
''Ginevra de' Benci'' is a portrait painting by Leonardo da Vinci of the 15th-century Florentine aristocrat Ginevra de' Benci (born ). Exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., it is the only painting by Leonardo on public ...
'', ''
La Belle Ferronnière
''La Belle Ferronnière'' () is a portrait of a lady, usually attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, in the Louvre. It is also known as ''Portrait of an Unknown Woman.'' The painting's title, applied as early as the seventeenth century, identifying t ...
'' and the ''
Mona Lisa
The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known ...
''.
''Lady with an Ermine'' is now housed at the
Czartoryski Museum
The Princes Czartoryski Museum ( pl, Muzeum Książąt Czartoryskich ) – often abbreviated to Czartoryski Museum – is a historic museum in Kraków, Poland, and one of the country's oldest museums. The initial collection was formed in 1796 in P ...
in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
, and is one of
Poland's national treasures. It is part of the
Princes Czartoryski Collection, which was sold for
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...
100 million (5% of the estimated market value of the entire collection) on 29 December 2016 to the Polish government by
Princes Czartoryski Foundation The Princes Czartoryski Foundation was established by Prince Adam Karol Czartoryski in 1991 to administer the Czartoryski Museum under the auspices of the National Museum in Kraków, Poland.
Through 2016, the Princes Czartoryski Foundation was the ...
, represented by
Adam Karol Czartoryski
Prince Adam Karol Czartoryski (born 2 January 1940) is a Polish and Spanish aristocrat who is head of the Polish House of Czartoryski. He is related to both the Spanish royal family (House of Borbón-Anjou) and to France's House of Orléans. In ...
, the last direct descendant of
Izabela Czartoryska Flemming and
Adam George Czartoryski
Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (; lt, Аdomas Jurgis Čartoriskis; 14 January 177015 July 1861), in English known as Adam George Czartoryski, was a Polish nobleman, statesman, diplomat and author.
The son of a wealthy prince, he began his political c ...
, who brought the painting to Poland from Italy in 1798.
Description
Composition
![Lady with an Ermine head](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Lady_with_an_Ermine_head.jpg)
The painting was
executed in oils on a somewhat small, 54 × 39 cm (21 × 15 in)
walnut wood panel
Panel may refer to:
Arts and media Visual arts
* Panel (comics), a single image in a comic book, comic strip or cartoon; also, a comic strip containing one such image
*Panel painting, in art, either one element of a multi-element piece of art ...
. It depicts a half-height woman turned toward her right at a three-quarter angle, but with her face turned toward her left. The animal in her arms twists in a similar manner, resulting in considerable ''
contrapposto
''Contrapposto'' () is an Italian term that means "counterpoise". It is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot, so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the a ...
'' with the lady, a technique Leonardo explored earlier with the angel in the ''
Virgin of the Rocks
The ''Virgin of the Rocks'' ( it, Vergine delle rocce), sometimes the ''Madonna of the Rocks'', is the name of two paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, of the same subject, with a composition which is identical except fo ...
''. The work is prepared with a layer of white
gesso
Gesso (; "chalk", from the la, gypsum, from el, γύψος) is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these. It is used in painting as a preparation for any number of substrates suc ...
and a layer of brownish
underpaint. In general, the paint is evenly applied akin to the ''Mona Lisa'', though certain areas of the lady's skin are more layered. Also present are the subtle remains of ''
spolvero
Pouncing is an art technique used for transferring an image from one surface to another using a fine powder called pounce. It is similar to tracing, and is useful for creating copies of a sketch outline to produce finished works.
Art
Pouncing ...
'' (in the outline of the face and head), underdrawing (in the right arm, right hand, left hand, top of nose and edge of the hair), and fingerprints (the face and animal's head), the latter of which are particularly common in Leonardo's paintings. It is made from a single piece of walnut wood; Leonardo recommended, and favored walnut wood, though it was not commonly used by other artists in
Lombardy
Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...
. The wood is thin (about ) and is most likely from the same tree as the wood for his later portrait, ''
La Belle Ferronnière
''La Belle Ferronnière'' () is a portrait of a lady, usually attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, in the Louvre. It is also known as ''Portrait of an Unknown Woman.'' The painting's title, applied as early as the seventeenth century, identifying t ...
''. The ''Lady with an Ermine'' is also connected to ''La Belle Ferronnière'', as well as Leonardo's earlier ''
Portrait of a Musician
The ''Portrait of a Musician''). It is sometimes known as the ''Portrait of a Young Man'', the ''Portrait of a Man with a Sheet of Music'' or the ''Musician''., group=n is an unfinished painting widely attributed to the Italian Renaissance ar ...
'', due to the three paintings including black backgrounds.
Though there are a few areas of minor damage, art historian
Frank Zöllner
Frank Zöllner (born 26 June 1956) is a German art historian who has been a professor of art history at Leipzig University since 1996. He is a prolific scholar on the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci, and author of one of the two modern ''ca ...
insists the work is in "very good condition... similar to the equally well preserved ''
Mona Lisa
The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known ...
''". Such evaluation is relatively recent, however, as the work was previously considered to be considerably damaged and repainted. Promotion of such analysis largely began with the art historian
Kenneth Clark
Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...
, who asserted in 1961 that the entire left side of the figure, as well as the background had been repainted. Scholars such as
Adolfo Venturi
Adolfo Venturi (3 September 1856, Modena – 10 June 1941, Santa Margherita Ligure) was an Italian art historian. His son, Lionello Venturi, was also an art historian.
Biography
He received his education in Modena and Florence, and in 1878 ...
, Angela Ottino della Chiesa and Jack Wasserman advanced the idea; however, 1992 technical analysis at the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
led by David Bull has confirmed that the damaged was limited to the background. Specifically, the background was likely originally a bluish-grey,
overpaint
Overpainting is the final layers of paint, over some type of underpainting, in a system of working in layers. It can also refer to later paint added by art restoration, restorers, or an artist or dealer wishing to "improve" or update an old image ...
ed with black during the mid 18th century. The signature
LEONARD D'AWINCI in the top left corner was probably also added at this time. There is also slight overpainting in the mouth and nose; some art historians suggest
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...
was responsible for the overpaint in the background and elsewhere. The background was also subject to the misconception that it originally included a window. It was proposed by , who led 1955
X-ray testing at Warsaw Laboratories, and explained certain spots in the right background as being remnants of a window. Such a conclusion has been disproven by Bull,
Pietro C. Marani
Pietro Cesare Marani (born 1952) is an Italian art historian and curator. He is among the leading authorities on the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci having written of over 200 publications on the artist. These include book-length studies on ...
and others. In light of this revision—with the primary damage being overpaint in the background—the art historian
Martin Kemp
Martin John Kemp (born 10 October 1961) is an English musician and actor, best known as the bassist in the new wave band Spandau Ballet and for his role as Steve Owen in ''EastEnders''.
He is the younger brother of Gary Kemp, who is also a ...
noted that "the picture is in much better condition than the standard accounts suggest, and gives the clearest indication of the freshly brilliant quality of Leonardo's painting during his period at the Sforza court in Milan".
The Lady
The subject has been identified with reasonable certainty as
Cecilia Gallerani
Cecilia Gallerani (; early 1473 – 1536) was the favourite and most celebrated of the many mistresses of Ludovico Sforza, known as Lodovico il Moro, Duke of Milan. She is best known as the subject of Leonardo da Vinci's painting '' The Lady ...
, the mistress of Leonardo's Milanese employer,
Ludovico Sforza. She looks to her left at something out of frame, toward the light, where the biographer
Walter Isaacson
Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, ...
suggests Ludovico is. Following the marriage of
Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan
Isabella of Aragon (2 October 1470 – 11 February 1524), also known as Isabella of Naples, was by marriage Duchess of Milan and ''suo jure'' Duchess of Bari.
A member of the Neapolitan branch of the House of Trastamara, her life was characte ...
and
Gian Galeazzo Sforza
Gian Galeazzo Sforza (20 June 1469 – 21 October 1494), also known as Giovan Galeazzo Sforza, was the sixth Duke of Milan.
Early life
Born in Abbiategrasso, he was only seven years old when in 1476 his father, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, was assa ...
, her 'Spanish style' dress would have been particularly fashionable. She has a silk ''sbernia'' on over her left shoulder, though Leonardo has simplified the traditional manner of wearing—where it would be draped over both shoulders—potentially to avoid too much complication in the focus points of the painting. Her right shoulder shows a ornately embroidered gold band over a
velvet
Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short pile, giving it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word ''velvety'' means ...
dress. Again, Leonardo has simplified the design, by having the left shoulder band covered by the ''sbernia'', so as to not take away from the animal's detailed head. Her coiffure, known as a ''coazone'', confines her hair smoothly to her head with two bands of it bound on either side of her face and a long plait at the back. Her hair is held in place by a fine gauze veil with a woven border of gold-wound threads, a black band, and a sheath over the plait.
As in many of Leonardo's paintings, the composition comprises a pyramidic spiral and the sitter is caught in the motion of turning to her left, reflecting Leonardo's lifelong preoccupation with the dynamics of movement. The three-quarter profile portrait was one of his many innovations. Il Moro's court poet,
Bernardo Bellincioni
Bernardo Bellincioni (1452–1492) was an Italian poet, who began his career in the court of Lorenzo the Magnificent in Florence. In 1483 he was at the House of Gonzaga, Gonzaga court and in 1485 he moved to Milan, where he was the court poet of Lu ...
, was the first to propose that Cecilia was poised as if listening to an unseen speaker. This work in particular shows Leonardo's expertise in painting the human form. Cecilia's outstretched hand was painted in great detail, with every contour of each fingernail, each wrinkle around her knuckles, and even the flexing of the tendon in her bent finger.
The ermine
![Leonardo da Vinci 047](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Leonardo_da_Vinci_047.jpg)
The animal resting in Cecilia's arms is usually known as an
ermine. Commentators have noted that it is too large to be an actual ermine, but its size is explained by its being of a largely symbolic nature. The art historian
Luke Syson
Luke Syson is an English museum curator and art historian. Since 2019, he has been the director of the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge, prior to which he held positions at the British Museum (1991–2002), the Victoria and Albe ...
notes that "Naturalism is not the point here; Leonardo has created a mythical beast, the composite of several animals he drew at this time". There are several interpretations of the ermine's significance and they are often used in combination with each other. In its winter coat, the ermine was a traditional
symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
of purity and moderation, as it was believed it would face death rather than soil its white coat.
In his old age, Leonardo compiled a
bestiary
A bestiary (from ''bestiarum vocabulum'') is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history a ...
in which he recorded: "The ermine out of moderation never eats but once a day, and it would rather let itself be captured by hunters than take refuge in a dirty lair, in order not to stain its purity." He repeats this idea in another note, "Moderation curbs all the vices. The ermine prefers to die rather than soil itself." A drawing by Leonardo in pen and ink of c. 1490, housed at the
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...
in Cambridge, depicts an ermine representing these ideals by surrendering to a hunter. The ermine has also been noted to have a personal significance to Ludovico Sforza, as he would use it as a personal emblem, having been appointed by
Ferdinand I as a member of the
Order of the Ermine in 1488. Alternatively, the ermine could be a pun on Cecilia's surname: The Ancient Greek term for ermine, or other weasel-like species of animals, is ''galê'' () or ''galéē'' (). Such allusions were particularly popular in Renaissance culture; Leonardo himself had done something similar in his earlier work, ''
Ginevra de' Benci
''Ginevra de' Benci'' is a portrait painting by Leonardo da Vinci of the 15th-century Florentine aristocrat Ginevra de' Benci (born ). Exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., it is the only painting by Leonardo on public ...
'', when he surrounded Ginevra with a
juniper tree, or ''ginepro'' in Italian. Krystyna Moczulska suggests that the ermine follows the meaning of an ermine or weasel in classical literature, where it relates to pregnancy, sometimes as an animal that protected pregnant women. Around the time of the painting's creation, Cecilia was known to be pregnant with Ludovico's illegitimate son.
Attribution
It was not until the 20th century that the ''Lady with an Ermine'' was widely accepted by scholars to be a work of Leonardo. The attribution is due to the style of
chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...
, intricate detail and "contemplative tone" typical of Leonardo.
Dating
The ''Lady with an Ermine'' can securely be dated to Leonardo's
first Milanese period(). Specifically, scholars date the painting to 1489–1491.
Background
Historical context
![The Ermine Hunt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/The_Ermine_Hunt.png)
To some extent the painting includes traditional characteristics of Italian portraiture from the 1430s and 1440s; the coloring, for example, is particularly reminiscent of the Florentine
quattrocento
The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...
tradition.
Commission
The sitter has been identified with reasonable certainty as Cecilia Gallerani, the mistress of Leonardo's employer,
Ludovico Sforza.
Gallerani was a member of a large family that was neither wealthy nor
noble
A noble is a member of the nobility.
Noble may also refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Noble Glacier, King George Island
* Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land
* Noble Peak, Wiencke Island
* Noble Rocks, Graham Land
Australia
* Noble Island, Great B ...
. Her father served for a time at the Duke's court. At the time of the portrait, she was about sixteen years old and was renowned for her beauty, scholarship and poetry. She was married at approximately age six to a young nobleman of the house of
Visconti
Visconti is a surname which may refer to:
Italian noble families
* Visconti of Milan, ruled Milan from 1277 to 1447
** Visconti di Modrone, collateral branch of the Visconti of Milan
* Visconti of Pisa and Sardinia, ruled Gallura in Sardinia from ...
, but sued to
annul
Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost ...
the marriage in 1487 for undisclosed reasons and the request was granted. She became the Duke's mistress and bore him a son, even after his marriage to
Beatrice d'Este
Beatrice d'Este (29 June 1475 – 3 January 1497), was Duchess of Bari and Milan by marriage to Ludovico Sforza (known as "il Moro"). She was one of the most important personalities of the time and, despite her short life, she was a major play ...
eleven years previously. Beatrice was promised to the Duke when she was only five, and married him when she was sixteen in 1491. After a few months, she discovered the Duke was still seeing Gallerani, and forced the Duke to end the relationship by having her married to Count Ludovico Carminati di Brambilla, also known as Il Bergamino. The newly-wed couple was moved to Palazzo Carmagnola in Milan.
History
It has always been known that Leonardo painted a portrait of Ludovico Sforza's mistress, Cecilia Gallerani, but the ''Lady with an Ermine'' remained largely unknown to scholars until nearly the 20th century. The painting was acquired in Italy in 1798 by Prince
Adam George Czartoryski
Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (; lt, Аdomas Jurgis Čartoriskis; 14 January 177015 July 1861), in English known as Adam George Czartoryski, was a Polish nobleman, statesman, diplomat and author.
The son of a wealthy prince, he began his political c ...
, the son of
Izabela Czartoryska Flemming and Prince
Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski
Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski (1 December 1734 – 19 March 1823) was an influential List of Polish people, Polish szlachcic, aristocrat, writer, literary and theater critic, linguist, traveller and statesman. He was a great patron of arts an ...
, and incorporated into the Czartoryski family collections at
Puławy
Puławy (, also written Pulawy) is a city in eastern Poland, in Lesser Poland's Lublin Voivodeship, at the confluence of the Vistula and Kurówka Rivers. Puławy is the capital of Puławy County. The city's 2019 population was estimated at 47,417 ...
in 1800. The inscription on the top-left corner of the painting,
LA BELE FERONIERE. LEONARD DAWINCI., was probably added by a restorer shortly after its arrival in Poland, and before the background was overpainted. Czartoryski was clearly aware it was a Leonardo, although the painting had never been discussed in print; no record exists of any previous owner. The ''
Belle Ferronière'' is the Leonardo portrait in the Louvre, whose sitter bears such a close resemblance; the Czartoryskis considered this sitter to be the same.
![Return of Lady with an Ermine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Return_of_Lady_with_an_Ermine.jpg)
The painting travelled widely during the 19th century. During the
November Uprising
The November Uprising (1830–31), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution,
was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in W ...
in 1830, the 84-year-old Princess Czartoryska rescued it in advance of the invading Russian army, hid it, and sent it 150 km south to the Czartoryski palace at
Sieniawa
Sieniawa (; uk, Сеня́ва, Seniáva), is a town in southeastern Poland. It had a population of 2,127 inhabitants (02.06.2009). Since 1999, Sieniawa has been part of Subcarpathian Voivodeship.
History
Sieniawa's history dates back to the 17 ...
. Soon after, it was transferred to the Czartoryski place of exile in Paris, the
Hôtel Lambert
The Hôtel Lambert () is a ''hôtel particulier,'' a grand mansion townhouse, on the Quai Anjou on the eastern tip of the Île Saint-Louis, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. In the 19th century, the name ''Hôtel Lambert'' also came to designate ...
. The family returned to Poland in 1869, settling in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
. In the tumultuous aftermath of the
German occupation of Paris
Paris started mobilizing for war in September 1939, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union
attacked Poland, but the war seemed far away until May 10, 1940, when the Germans attacked France and quickly defeated the French army. The French governme ...
in 1871 and the
Commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
, the family brought the painting to Kraków in 1876 and the museum opened in 1878. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the painting was moved to the
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (, ''Old Masters Gallery'') in Dresden, Germany, displays around 750 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. It includes major Italian Renaissance works as well as Dutch and Flemish paintings. Outstand ...
in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
for safe-keeping, returning to Kraków in 1920.
In 1939, anticipating the German occupation of Poland, it was again moved to Sieniawa, but it was discovered and seized by the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
and sent to the
Kaiser Friedrich Museum
The Bode-Museum (English: ''Bode Museum''), formerly called the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (''Emperor Frederick Museum''), is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1898 to 1904 by order of Germa ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. In 1940,
Hans Frank
Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and lawyer who served as head of the General Government in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War.
Frank was an early member of the German Workers' Party ...
, the Governor General of Poland, saw the painting there and requested it be returned to Kraków, where it hung in his suite of offices in the
Wawel Castle
The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established on ...
. In 1941, it was transferred to a warehouse of other plundered art in
Breslau. In 1943 it was brought back to Kraków and exhibited at the Wawel Castle. At the end of the Second World War it was discovered by Allied troops in Frank's country home in
Schliersee
Schliersee is a small town (Markt) and a municipality in the district of Miesbach in Bavaria in Germany. It is named after the nearby Lake Schliersee. It comprises the districts Schliersee (town), , , , Josefsthal and Spitzingsee.
Among the p ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, and was returned to Poland in 1946. It was again placed on exhibit at the
Czartoryski Museum
The Princes Czartoryski Museum ( pl, Muzeum Książąt Czartoryskich ) – often abbreviated to Czartoryski Museum – is a historic museum in Kraków, Poland, and one of the country's oldest museums. The initial collection was formed in 1796 in P ...
in Kraków. Throughout the mid–late 20th century the work traveled the world more extensively than any other Leonardo painting, being exhibited in Warsaw (1952), Moscow (1972), Washington, D.C. (1991/92), Malmö (1993/94), Rome/Milan (1998), Florence (1999).
The work remained displayed at the Czartoryski Museum until it closed for renovations in 2010. From May 2017 to 2019, it was exhibited in the
National Museum, Kraków
The National Museum in Kraków ( pl, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie), popularly abbreviated as MNK, is the largest museum in Poland, and the main branch of Poland's National Museum, which has several independent branches with permanent collections arou ...
, just outside the Old Town. It returned to the Czartoryski Museum for the museum's reopening on December 19, 2019.
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Further reading
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External links
''Lady with an Ermine'', National Museum, Kraków''Lady with an Ermine'', Universal Leonardo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lady With An Ermine
Paintings by Leonardo da Vinci
Collection of the Czartoryski Museum
Art and cultural repatriation after World War II
1489 paintings
15th-century portraits
Mammals in art
Portraits of women