Page 74 - The MoMA/ Guggenheim issue of World of Art magazine (2003)

UnVeiLing LeOnaRDO

Da Vinci’S

gineVRa De’benci written by
Tamara PaSzTOR

contact information: tgp32001@yahoo.ca
(Tamara Pasztor)

The sitter does not possess the wittiness of
the earlier da’vinci images and she appears
rather solemn in contrast to Mona lisa and lady
with an Ermine. ginerva’s pose is fairly rigid
and her head taut. Delicate ringlets cascade
down from her forehead. During the dawn of
the renaissance, the exposure of the forehead
ginEvra DE’BEnci rEvErsE (ginEvra
lEonarDo Da’vinci DE’BEnci) in art indicated intellectuality intelligence. it is
1474 lEonarDo Da’vinci
oil on wooD quite obvious that leonardo da’vinci considered
38.2 x 36.7cM
de’Benci as an academic. These subtle ripples
la DaMa Dal Mazzolino are repeated in the spikes of the juniper bush.
anDrEa DEl vErrocchio
1475-1480 far removed from the traditional western
MarBlE
61 cM renaissance portraiture, ginevra de’Benci is
portrayed from her head to shoulders only.

in the distant background a landscape of still
subject of ginevra de’Benci connects the lives of the distinguished masters waters, mists, and darkened woods illuminate
(1474) retains nothing of of the high renaissance - each began their the pale features of the sitter. Placed behind
The Mona lisa’s inward artistic career with an apprenticeship to a the young woman is a juniper bush that is pun
the
amusement nor cecilia gallerani’s (lady with painter who had already obtained excellent on da’vinci’s part. The italian word for juniper
an Ermine) gentle submissiveness. instead, the social status. is ginepro and alludes to ginevra’s first name.
young woman gazes past the viewer with a also, the symbol of the juniper is an emblem
wonderful luminous sulkiness. The difference luckily, da’vinci was instructed by sculptor of both virginity and purity.
between ginevra de’Benci and the other and painter andrea del verrochio (1435-
portraits is that the sitter does not display her 1488). verrochio’s best-known painting is Possibly the most intriguing part of the painting
hands. numerous scholars have surmised that the Baptism of christ because leonardo is is the reverse. The opposite side of the canvas
leonardo da’vinci had truncated the canvas assumed to have painted the angel on the far has a large scroll with a latin verse: virtvtem
and the rationale behind this sinister motive left. it was traditional for the novice to assist for/ma Decorat [‘Beauty adorns virtue’]. This
remains unknown. is da’vinci blameworthy of the master in his works in order to learn and scroll curls around the iconographic images of
this act or is the work of art an imitation of duplicate the same style. the juniper twig, a palm leaf, and a laurel branch.
northern portraiture? These three objects signal virginity, moral virtue,
ginevra de’Benci has captured the interest and intellect respectively. in addition, located
The infamous high renaissance artist leonardo of contemporaries merely for the especial at the far right corner is a red seal, which was
da’vinci (1452-1519) for his copious skills in attention that leonardo da’vinci had devoted the family crest of the liechtenstein clan—the
sculpture, architecture, engineering, and art. his to his sitter. The young woman was married former owners of the painting. king louis xii
familial background is as insignificant as william to nobleman luigi niccolini in 1474 when she allegedly brought this work of art to france
shakespeare. leonardo was the illegitimate son was sixteen. scholars have deduced that from Milan in 1499.
of a local lawyer in vinci, a small town in the perhaps, ginerva was fifteen when leonardo
Tuscan region. his father acknowledged him completed the canvas in celebration of de’Benci’s it is often debated that ginevra de’Benci could
and paid for his training. a prevalent theme engagement to niccolini. have been severed and that the bottom half

72 WORLD of aRT