What the Ermine Saw
The remarkable true story behind one of historys most enigmatic portraits"a glorious picaresque of unbridled passions and unmitigated scoundrels, a glorious romp through the great palaces and palazzos of Europe" (Amanda Foreman, New York Times best-selling author of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire)
Five hundred and thirty years ago, a young woman sat before a Grecian-nosed artist known as Leonardo da Vinci. Her name was Cecilia Gallerani, and she was the young mistress of Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan. Sforza was a brutal and clever man who was mindful that Leonardos genius would not only capture Cecilias beguiling beauty but also reflect the grandeur of his title. But when the portrait was finished, Leonardos brush strokes had conveyed something deeper by revealing the essence of Cecilias soul. Even today, The Woman with an Ermine manages to astonish.
Despite the work''s importance in its own time, no records of it have been found for the two hundred and fifty years that followed Galleranis death. Readers of The Hare with the Amber Eyes will marvel at Eden Collinsworths dexterous story of illuminates the eventual history of this unique masterpiece, as it journeyed from one owner to the nextfrom the portraits next recorded owner, a Polish noblewoman, who counted Benjamin Franklin as an admirer, to its exile in Paris during the Polish Soviet War, to its return to WWII-era Poland wherein advance of Germanys invasionit remained hidden behind a bricked-up wall by a housekeeper who defied Hitlers edict that it be confiscated as one of the Reichs treasures. Fans of Anne-Marie OConnors The Lady in Gold will treasure the story of this criss-crossing journey and the enigmatic woman at its heart.
What the Ermine Saw is a fact-based story that cheats fiction and a reminder that genius, power, and beauty always have a price.