Posted on 01/24/2017 9:35:01 AM PST by mbarker12474
French scientist Pascal Cotte has astounded art historians with a major discovery about Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece Lady With an Ermine (1489-90), the BBC reports. Until now, it had been assumed that da Vinci’s composition had always included the white ermine, but Cotte’s three year-long investigation has revealed that the Italian artist actually painted the work not in one, but in three clearly differentiated stages.
His first version was ... [snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at news.artnet.com ...
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That is interesting, because just yesterday in our homeschool we watched a kids biographical film about Da Vinci, and it had a scene of him painting this portrait with the live subject. She was holding a prop, which he was then making into the ermine. But he explained to a young boy in the film what’s the ermine represented.
Cute!
Of course, Leonardo painted everything over a long period of time. He was procrastinator-in-chief.
what did it represent?
The little so-and-so bit off all the fingers of her left hand!
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A furry animal of course silly!
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I don’t know, but when in doubt, just say something represents a penis or vagina and college professors will give you credit :)
well usually in art that is the kind of symbolism they include in their art- Was hoping this time it stood for purity or virtue or something-
Thanks for posting.
...ping....
Woman with Sporkweasel.
The article tells the story. The white Ermine was the nickname of her lover who was married. Apparently he was the one who commissioned the painting and was not happy with the grey Ermine. My curiosity focused on her hair. Was that her hair under her chin or was it some kind of veil tied there? It just looks weird. I also wonder why he added the blue drape over her shoulder. Oh, and how did the ladies and gentlemen keep their fingernails that trimmed? They didn’t have finger clips. :o)
Duh! Korean Mani/Pedi salon.
Apparently he took 14 years to paint the Mona Lisa. "Oil and Marble" by Stephanie Storey is a fictional account of his relationship with Michelangelo, a pretty good read.
Oh, I’ll look it up on Amazon. I’m fascinated with Leonardo. Supposedly he had a somewhat rocky relationship with the overly angry Michelangelo. Leo was a very nice guy.
The style was severely-repressed hair implemented by the use of thin hairnets. The Mona Lisa wears one as I recall.
Sometimes an ermine is just an ermine.
Unless it’s a sporkweasel.
In the movie, the Leonardo character said it represented the purity of the noble blood. I don't know if that is historically accurate, but it sounds plausible.
Thanks- usually they don’t include odd things in a painting without it having some kind of symbolic meaning- the early artists were usually pretty heavy on including symbolism-
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