Leonardo Da Vinci - Ginevra Da Benci Size 15x16
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Description:
Giorgio Vasari, elaborating on an earlier sixteenth-century tradition, states that Leonardo painted a portrait of Ginevra de' Benci, daughter of Leonardo's friend Amerigo di Giovanni Benic. This portrait is widely assumed to be that in washington, D.C. of a young woman. However, the attribution of the Washing ton portrait to Leonardo has been questioned by some scholars, and with some justification. Leonardo, for example, could not have responsible for the disjointed anatomy of the face. Moreover, the symmetry of the hair framing the face and the regularity in the arrangement of the eyes, nose, and mouth are too calculated and tend to fix the head into a two-dimensional pattern on the surface of the painting, thus preventing volume from evolving continuously in space. This is entirely uncharacteristic of Leonardo's manner of painting, as is the treatment of the blond hair: it is hard and linear and illuminated by a light that seems excessively sharp.
Still, the painting has considerable beauty and psychological power, which is registered as sulleness and feline languor. This emphasis on a heightened expression of personality, as well as the general shape of the head and the head and the pose of the figure, anticipates the "Mona Lisa", which argues strongly for at least a partial attribution of the portrait to Leonardo.
The identification of the sitter in the Washington portrait depends on the juniper tree in the background and on the juniper twig in the emblem on the verso. They indicate that the woman portrayed was named Ginevra (ginepro meaning "juniper" in Italian). Awaiting proof, however, is her identity as Ginevra de' Benci. It may come when we have deciphered the emblem on the verso, consisting of a garland of laurel and palm leaves enclosing the Juniper twig and bearing the Latin motto "Virtutem Forma Decorat"("Beauty is the ornatment of Virtue").
The Life of Ginevra de' Benci is surprisingly well documented. She married Luigi Bernardi di Lapo Nicolini in 1474 at the age of seventeen. The subsequent years were not happy ones for her. Soon after their marriage, her husband found himself in serious financial diffculties, and in 1480 Ginevra was reported to be constantly in bad health. It seems that she was involved in an extramarital affair with Bernardo Bembo, Venetian ambassador to Florence and father of the humanist Carinal Pietro Bembo. She died childless years later. If the woman in the Washington portrait is indeed Ginevra de' Benci, then it is tempting to believe that her pallid complexion and the disquieting expression on her face reflect the sickness and anxiety that marred her life.
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| Fulcrum ID#: 26250 |
| Title: Leonardo Da Vinci - Ginevra Da Benci Size 15x16 |
| Artist: Leonardo Da Vinci |
| Fine-Art Print |
| Size: 15" x 16" |
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Ships within 2 days
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| Price |
$21.99 |
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