Page 272 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

poems, it should be remembered that expressions I/O Notwithstanding the crudely painted inscription,
of Platonic love were entirely conventional fea- which was probably added when the background
tures in the Petrarchan tradition and should not Leonardo da Vinci of the portrait was overpainted, the identification
be taken as indications of an illicit affair. Indeed, Florentine, 1452-1519 of the sitter in this painting as Cecilia Gallerani is
the chaste and ultimately unattainable character reasonably secure. The animal she holds is recog-
of the beloved lady is a central feature of such PORTRAIT OF A LADY WITH AN ERMINE nizably an ermine, the Greek name of which,
poetry. The portrait is in fact a key document in (CECILIA GALLERANI) galee, makes a characteristically humanist pun on
understanding the position of women in the art c. 1490 her name, and may also allude to Ludovico Sforza,
and society of Lorenzo's court. oil on walnut panel the ruler of Milan. The unnaturally large scale of
The newly demonstrated link with Bembo sug- 54.8 X 40.} (21 /8 X 15 /8) the ermine should not cast doubt on its identifica-
3
7
gests that the portrait was not commissioned for later inscribed: LA BELLE FERRONIERE/ tion (Campbell 1990) and may be compared to
Ginevra's marriage in 1474, as is often hypothe- LENONARD DA WINCI the exaggerated size of the babies in Leonardo's
sized (Brown 1985) and that it dates instead from references: Popham 1946,109; Zygulski 1969; Madonna and Child compositions. Cecilia was a
after 1475. The chronology of Leonardo's paint- Kwiatowski 1955; Richter 1970/1977, 1234, 1263; significant figure in Milan during Ludovico Sfor-
ings in the 14705 is very uncertain, and it is Kemp 1985; Rzepinska 1985, 66-jo; Clark 1989; za's reign (1481-1499). She was an educated and
always difficult to date portraits by comparison to London 1989, 37; Brown 1990; Campbell 1990; accomplished student of Latin and Italian litera-
religious subjects, but the stiff pose and polished Bull 1991 ture and a devotee of the arts and philosophy.
foreground detail favor a date during Bembo's first Czartoryski Museum, Cracow Before her marriage in 1491 to Conte Camierati
embassy to Florence (1475-1476) rather than as
late as 1478-1480, which would bring it closer to
the period of the Adoration of the Magi.
The incompleteness of the heraldic motif indi-
cates that as much as a third of the panel has been
cut from the bottom; this must have occurred
before 1780. It is likely that Ginevra's hands were
originally included in the picture, as in the marble
bust of a Lady Holding Flowers by Verrocchio
(Bargello, Florence) and the closely related por-
trait of a Lady Holding a Ring attributed to
Lorenzo di Credi (Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York). It is possible that Verrocchio's bust
also represents Ginevra (Fletcher 1989). The slen-
der hands drawn by Leonardo from life in a highly
finished study at Windsor (12558) have often
been identified as belonging to Ginevra and do
indeed justify the praise accorded to her hands in
the poems: "hands with the skill of Pallas/' and
"fingers as white as ivory/' The lower margin of
the picture has suffered substantial paint loss, and
a painted strip has been added where the tips of
her fingers might be expected to appear. Other-
wise, much of Leonardo's paint surface has sur-
vived in remarkably good condition.
The appearance of the painting combines the
hieratic quality of a sculpted bust with passages of
intense and highly innovative paint handling. The
extremely delicate linearity of her hair (in vortex
curls, prophetic of his later water studies) is set
against the nuanced modeling of the flesh (which
has been softened by Leonardo's pressing his hand
into the paint surfaces while wet) and against the
spiky light on the juniper leaves. In the glimpse of
lakeland in the background, Leonardo has striven
for especially novel effects. There the forms are
depicted with blurred brushstrokes, to convey a
sense of atmosphere, but the oil-rich pigment
layers have since puckered and wrinkled, much as
in the experimental background of his Madonna
with the Vase of Flowers (Alte Pinakothek,
Munich). Even at this early stage of his career,
Leonardo was pushing the medium of oil painting
to new limits in his ambition to evoke visual
effects with unremitting fidelity. M.K.

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 271