Traditional - Blog topic 5

Leonardo Da Vinci's 'Lady With an Ermine', painted 1489-1490 is an example of a High Renaissance painting that follows both typical and atypical rules of Renaissance portraiture. The portrait depicts Cecilia Gallerani, the mistress of the Duke of Milan holding an ermine. 

From an initial glance, there is a lot of contrast from the background against the paler colours and tones of the skin and the bright red and blue clothing. The shape of the ermine sweeps downwards towards the bottom left hand corner of the composition, which brings the eye towards the hand and along the detail of the dress. There is an even balance of saturated and less saturated colours, such as with the clothing against the skin, and the darker more neutral tones of the beaded necklace and backdrop. 

The use of light shine in the eyes adds a sense of life to the model, and catches the attention of the eye. It also draws our eyes to the right hand side of the painting, leading off of the canvas. It creates a sense of open space surrounding the subject, and gives a clue to the setting, e.g. a near-by window or a candle light. The colours of her clothes are reminiscent of many religious paintings of Mary in the renaissance, who is often depicted wearing lapis lazuli blue, reds and golds. There could be a subtle comparison that Da Vinci made between both Mary and the sitter of the portrait.

In this painting, Da Vinci uses a technique that he developed during the Renaissance period known as 'Sfumato', or 'Smokiness' - the tones in the painting are blended softly to form a soft gradient form one to another, and this can be seen primarily in the face and neck area. It emphasises the youthfulness of the portrait subject, who was only 15 years old, and adds a softness to help exaggerate this. It was also painted using a more modern medium, Oil paints, which were introduced from the Netherlands in the 1470s. This was a big change for many Italian Renaissance masters, who had previously used powdered pigments and egg whites for oil painting. 

The use of the ermine as a symbol was prevalent in many renaissance era paintings, such as for monarchs who wanted to symbolise wealth and status, and for expectant women. Perhaps the ermine in this painting is a symbol of both Cecilia's familial wealth and status, and her relationship with the Duke of Milan. 

'Lady With an Ermine', 1489-1490, Leonardo Da Vinci. 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_with_an_Ermine