Painted around 1490 (at the time where in neighbour Spain Columbus prepared for his voyage) is less known, but as beautiful as famous ‘Mona Lisa’ portrait by Leonardo.
Da Vinci finished the painting on the court of Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza il Moro and it is probably portrait of Duke’s mistress Cecila Gallerani.
The white coat of Ermine represents purity, and also could be the simbol of Duke himself on hand of his lover, as the Duke’s nickname -’ermellino’.
Wallnut board is covered with few dosens of thin oil paint layers,the last of them have traces of Leonardo’s fingerprints.
To finish the painting the artist used tips of his fingers, not brush, now the subtle prints are the best proofs of autenticity of ‘Lady with an Ermine’.
Recent x-ray research discoverded that the black layer around the girl must’ve been added later by another painter, underneath the black paint the original landscape painted by Leonardo similar to the one form ‘Mona Lisa’.