Composition of the lady's head The painting was
executed in oils on a relatively small,
walnut wood panel. It depicts a half-height woman turned toward her left 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 with the lady, a technique Leonardo explored earlier with the angel in the
Virgin of the Rocks. The work is prepared with a layer of white
gesso 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 (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. The wood is thin (about ) and is most likely from the same tree as the wood for his later portrait,
La Belle Ferronnière. The
Lady with an Ermine is also connected to
La Belle Ferronnière, as well as Leonardo's earlier
Portrait of a Musician, due to the three paintings including black backgrounds. Though there are a few areas of minor damage, art historian
Frank Zöllner insists the work is in "very good condition... similar to the equally well preserved
Mona Lisa". Such an evaluation is relatively recent, however, as the work was previously considered to be considerably damaged and repainted. Promotion of such an analysis largely began with the art historian
Kenneth Clark, 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, Angela Ottino della Chiesa and Jack Wasserman advanced the idea; however, a 1992 technical analysis at the
National Gallery of Art led by David Bull has confirmed that the damage was limited to the background. Specifically, the background was likely originally a bluish-grey,
overpainted 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 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
Kazimierz Kwiatkowski, 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 and others. In light of this revision—with the primary damage being overpaint in the background—the art historian
Martin Kemp 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, 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 suggests Ludovico is. Following the marriage of
Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan and
Gian Galeazzo Sforza, 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 various elements of the painting. Her right shoulder shows an ornately embroidered gold band over a
velvet 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
coazzone, 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, 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. The artist painted Cecilia's outstretched hand with a lot of detail, including the shape of each fingernail, the lines around her knuckles, and even the way the tendon in her bent finger moved as it bent. A recent study brings to the forefront and supports another so far little-followed hypothesis: the heroic character of
Caterina Sforza, the lioness of Romagna, is proposed as being the model of this allegorical representation in which the mental strength and beauty that were attributed to
Amazons in mythology.
The ermine of the ermine The animal resting in Cecilia's arms is usually known as an
ermine but appears to be an albino
ferret. 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 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 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 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 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, 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. The ermine can also be understood in the context of Cecilia's marriage to Count Lodovico Bergamino, which took place soon after the birth of her son by Ludovico in 1491. The ermine was a common motif in representations of chastity in Renaissance Italy, popularized by its appearance as an attribute of Chastity in Petrarch's poem
I Trionfi. Petrarch's poem, which describes Chasity as triumphing over Love, was often depicted in lavishly decorated chests (called
cassone) which formed an important part of the wedding trousseau of brides from prominent backgrounds. In such a context, the ermine, as a symbol of chastity, also symbolizes marital fidelity. The presence of the ermine thus points both to Cecilia's connection with Ludovico as well as her upcoming marriage to Bergamino. ==Attribution==