“Lady with an Ermine” by Leonardo da Vinci, or Oda Painting

The world, according to Leonardo, is known through the senses, and the eye is the master of the senses, therefore painting is the queen of art. Such reasoning is evidence of the deep conviction of a brilliant painter in the greatness and omnipotence of his art.

“The Lady with an Ermine” is the second (after the “Portrait of a Musician”) experience of Leonardo da Vinci in portrait genre. In 1800, in Italy, Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, son of Princess Elzbety Dorota Flemming Czartoryski (Izabella (Elżbieta) Dorota Fleming), bought this portrait for his mother, who in 1801 opened the first public museum in Pulawy in Poland. Continue reading →