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Leonardo
da Vinci - Ginevra de' Benci
Ginevra de' Benci (Born 1457) was a lady of the aristocratic
class in 15th century Florence, admired for her intelligence
by Florentine contemporaries. She is the subject of
one of only about 17 existing paintings attributed
to Leonardo da Vinci.[citation needed] The oil-on-wood
portrait was permanently acquired by the National
Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., USA in 1967, for
US$5 million paid to the Princely House of Liechtenstein,
a record price at the time. This portrait is currently
the only painting by Leonardo in the Americas.
It is known from three written sources that Leonardo
painted a portrait of Ginevra de' Benci in 1474 in
commemoration of her marriage to Luigi Niccolini.
The painting's imagery and the text on the reverse
of the panel support this the identification of this
picture. Directly behind the young lady in the portrait
is a juniper tree. The reverse of the portrait is
decorated with a juniper sprig encircled by a wreath
of laurel and palm and is memorialized by the phrase
VIRTUTEM FORMA DECORAT ("Beauty adorns Virtue").
The Italian word for juniper is "ginepro",
which suggests that the juniper motif has been used
here be a symbolic pun on Ginevra's name. Fittingly,
juniper was also a Renaissance symbol for chastity.Reverse
of the portrait.
The portrait is one of the highlights of the National
Gallery of Art, and is admired by many[who?] for its
portrayal of Ginevra's temperament. Ginevra is beautiful
but austere; she has no hint of a smile and her gaze,
though forward, seems indifferent to the viewer. A
strip from the bottom of the painting was removed
in the past, presumably due to damage, and Ginevra's
arms and hands were lost.
According to Giorgio Vasari, Ginevra de' Benci was
also included in the fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio
of the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth in the church
of Santa Maria Novella in Florence.
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Leonardo da Vinci - Ginevra de Benci
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