Talk:Lady with an Ermine

Removed statement
Despite sustaining much damage – the surface is much rubbed, the background was lightly overpainted with unmodulated black, the upper left corner has been broken and repaired, a transparent veil on the model's head was turned into an extravagant hairdo and several fingers were grossly retouched

This has been in part changed and in part removed.


 * "much damage". No, this isn't "much damage". The broken corner was a plain part of the pic with undetailed background colour. The abrasion of the surface is mild in relation to that suffered by some old panels.
 * The overpainting of the background, however, is a bit of a disaster!
 * a transparent veil on the model's head was turned into an extravagant hairdo. I have removed this because I believe that whoever wrote it has misunderstood what the author was saying. I believe that the author must be describing this hairdo. This does not mean that he is saying that when Leonardo finished the pic, she was just wearing a veil, and someone else "turned it into" an extravagant hairdo.
 * This hairdo is just as Leonardo painted it, apart from a slight touch-up to the edge of the braid. It is not extravagant. It is rather simple, compared with the plaited coiffures and hugely elaborate wigs that appear in many of Leonardo's drawings, and some of his other paintings. This is the sort of headdress that was worn by teenage girls.
 * several fingers grossly retouched. "Grossly" seems like an awfully strong word. Particularly since there is debate about whether the fingers were retouched at all.

Amandajm (talk) 13:02, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Removed Arch Hypothesis
''X-rays also reveal that Leonardo had planned to surround the figure with an arch or window, but changed his mind. ''

The reference itself says this was a false hypothesis from the 1950's and that the 1992 analysis proves it incorrect. BillMcGonigle (talk) 17:59, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

No one knows definitively how many female portraits Leonardo made
The portrait of Beatrice D'Este attributed jointly to de Predis and da Vinci seems increasingly to be viewed as a "real Leonardo" - whatever that means. Da Vinci worked in a studio setting, with lots of assistants, working from sketches to the finished product (from his earliest days to his latest days). From my point of view, if the brush was in his hands it's a Leonardo first, and someone else second - but this is all debatable. At any rate, it's not proper to state that there are only four known portraits when there's a fifth labeled da Vinci right here on Wikipedia. And wasn't there a fingerprint found on yet another female portrait more recently? Is Mona Lisa truly a portrait? Does anyone know? Vasari's history (written so long after the facts) is not trustworthy on every fact, but fingerprints are good evidence.--LeValley 00:23, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

Species of animal
There was some correspondence on this in the (London) Times recently. It was pointed out that the animal is far too large to be an ermine (stoat in winter coat). A stoat is only about 10 inches long (excluding the tail), which is about the length of an adult woman's forearm from wrist to elbow. Unless the 'lady' is tiny, the animal is clearly not a stoat. It is far more likely to be a ferret (domesticated strain of polecat), which is about the right size, and relatively tame. Does anyone know when the title 'lady with an ermine' came into use?86.180.94.207 (talk) 16:41, 12 November 2011 (UTC)


 * I would strongly support the argument that the "ermine" is a Ferret. It has a pink nose, and apparently pale eyes, characteristic of an albino (as are many Ferrets), and is far too large to be an ermine (D.W. Yalden, President, The Mammal Society) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.7.184.179 (talk • contribs)

Yes, it's much more likely to be a ferret: size, shape and there are many more domesticated ferrets (polecats) than any other weasel. But NB the names of different weasels in different European languages don't convert one to one. OTOH polecats/ ferrets don't turn white (well, some of them) in the same way as stoats/ ermines. That whiteness also connects to purity. But if it's an albino ferret that allegory could be preserved. S C Cheese (talk) 20:38, 18 October 2019 (UTC)


 * ✅ its a Ferret, but Lady with an Ermine has a much better ring to it than Lady with a Ferret! Eruditess (talk) 22:41, 19 January 2023 (UTC)

File:Dama z gronostajem.jpg to appear as POTD
Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Dama z gronostajem.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on June 1, 2013. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2013-06-01. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 22:49, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Monuments men
Suggest section on the world war 2 period when the painting,was stolen by the nazis. There is a famous photo of American GIs holding up the painting in a rail yard. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.61.20.206 (talk) 04:05, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

Angelo Paratico Leonardo Da Vinci. A Chinese Scholar Lost in Renaissance Italy
This Hong-Kong based journalist has written a book, ''Leonardo Da Vinci. A Chinese Scholar Lost in Renaissance Italy'', which has received considerable publicity, enough to be mentioned in various relevant articles. There has been of course criticism. See for instance (I'm not sure if this meets RS but it gives some context for us),, , ,  and many other sources. Doug Weller (talk) 09:47, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

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