Leonardo da Vinci, "Lady with an Ermine", 1483-1490, oil and tempera on panel, 54,7 x 40,3 cm, photo courtesy of the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow/press materials
Da Vinci's "Lady with an Ermine" from the Prince Czartoryski Foundation, the owner of the painting, has been successfully transported from Madrid where the painting was presented at the exhibition "Poland. Treasures and Artistic Exhibitions, the Golden Times of the Republic of Poland" to Berlin where it is shown at the exhibition "Renaissance Faces. Masterpieces of Italian Portraiture" in the Bode-Museum
With the help of the Polish Army and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, the famous masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci arrived safely in Berlin. The "Poland. Treasures and Artistic Exhibitions, the Golden Times of the Republic of Poland" exhibition was prepared by the National Museum in Krakow. From the 25th of August to the 31st of October 2011, the painting is displayed in the Bode-Museum at the exhibition "Gesichter der Renaissance - Renaissance Faces. Masterpieces of Italian Portraiture".
The Gemäldegalerie and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York have undertaken a landmark project tracing the development of the Italian portrait in the fifteenth century. "Renaissance Faces. Masterpieces of Italian Portraiture", an exhibition on the early development of Italian portraiture, is a selection of major Italian portraiture works from the 15th century. These deal with the history of portraiture in Florence, portrait painting in the Italian courts and shows the development of portraiture in Venice.
The exhibition displays the works by Botticelli, Bellini, Antonello da Messina and Pisanello, focusing on Renaissance art from Florence, Venice and Northern Italy. More than 150 paintings are shown, as well as sculptures and drawings of the faces of the nobles, ladies, lower class men and women of the fifteenth century.
The main attraction of the show is the masterpiece from one of the most valuable collections of Poland from the National Museum in Kraków - "Lady with an Ermine" by Leonardo da Vinci. Painted with oil and tempera on panel in 1483-1490.
For more information about the history and interpretations of the portrait see the article "Da Vinci's "Lady With An Ermine" Free To Travel".
In portraiture sometimes the principal motive is simply to preserve a likeness-a record or memory of the salient traits of an individual. At other times social rank, marital status or dynastic or generational relationships are suggested by adherence to a convention, type of dress, or the inclusion of various emblems or attributes. Italian portraiture evolves in the shadow of classical models, but it is no less aware of the innovations and powerful naturalism of the great painters of the Netherlands.
It is informed by humanist discussions about the individual, but also by an acute sense of social hierarchy and by a poetics of beauty that frequently transformed female sitters into and idealised likeness.
The event takes place in the restored Bode-Museum, it is subsequently on view at the Metropolitan Museum. The exhibition is placed under the auspices of the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.
"Renaissance Faces. Masterpieces of Italian Portraiture" exhibition opens on the 25th of August and runs through to the 20th of November 2011, however, the "Lady with an Ermine" is only being show till the 31th of October 2011.
From Berlin Da Vinci's work will be transported to London, where from November it will be presented at the National Gallery exhibition entitled "Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan".
Bode-Museum
Am Kupfergraben 1
10178 Berlin
Source: press materials, www.smb.museum