The name of an Italian painting and the artist?
 

I saw a print of a beautiful painting of a young woman in red velvet, I believe holding what looked like a ferret. I think the artist was Bassano but I'm not sure and I know that that is a family of many artists. Does anyone have any idea?

Hi sandi,

Is this it? "Lady with Ermine"
http://members.rogers.com/mdhertrich/art.html

((I))

It's not da Vinci's "Lady with an Ermine", is it? This article says it's in Krakow and you've been to Italy & Switzerland.
http://www.krakow-info.com/dama.htm

You guys win the prize! That's exactly what it is. I had no idea it was aa Vinci..and neither did the shop owner that told me it was Bassano.

Thanks!!

You're gonna be busy casinoroyale helping to inform the creators of 2.1 million web pages that they only need to refer to Leonardo da Vinci by his first name.

Well, casinoroyale is right. I read about this somewhere, but Wikipedia supports this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_Da_Vinci

I quote:

This was before modern naming conventions developed in Europe. Therefore, his full name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", which means "Leonardo, son of Piero, from Vinci". Leonardo himself simply signed his works "Leonardo" or "Io, Leonardo" ("I, Leonardo"). Most authorities therefore refer to his works as "Leonardos", not "da Vincis". Presumably he did not use his father's name because of his illegitimate status.

What I want to know is how Krakow ended up with this painting. It's fascinating.

I think Leonardo da Vinci's "Lady with an Ermine" is on tour. It was as of last year. As I remember, it is a part of the Czartorski collection in Krakow.

Talk about asking a simple question and some of the asnwers scare you to death..this is definitely one of those times,...now if we could just harness some of that anger and pry the corncob out of the nether reaches we'd all be a lot better off.

Well, I wouldn't have bothered, but since casinoroyale brought it up and indytravel questioned it, I think that it's necessary to offer some support.

Granted, it's tangential, but which threads don't go on a tangent once in a while? :-)

Good Grief guys.. I am well aware the da Vinci means "from Vinci" as I have visited his home several times. Give me a break. I'll refer to Leo how ever I please.

Since we've gone both tangential and ballistic, I'll thank sandi_travelnut for asking the question. Looking up the work somehow led me to the website http://www.poster-und-kunstdrucke.de - - aka artprints-on-demand.com - -looks pretty cool.

Best wishes,

Rex

I always think it's funny when I'm reading along, and thinking , boy, that's an interesting fact, and then the next post says the replies are angry. In this case, I guess casinoroyale was a little forceful, but in general people get offended a little too easily.

I just thought it ws silly to not just offer up the fact (of which we all knew already) but to the tell someone how to refer to him. I am glad though that I found the artist so I can get of print of the painting.

By the way, I searched for the museum on the web, and the history of the collection is actually quite interesting (if sad). I find it fascinating that there's a Leonardo in Karkow, as there aren't many extant Leonardos and some of them are damaged or incomplete.

And, by the way, sandi, your question was interesting, but personally, when I found out that fact about Leonardo, I've never referred to him as "da Vinci" again and switched immediately to Leonardo.

After all, according to the Wikipedia link, that's how he signed his painting. We should accord this great artist some respect by calling him the way he wanted to be called (even if he's been dead for 500 years).

Personally I don't think that this a matter of taste. And I don't think that I'm angry. I'm level-headed, though I obviously have too much time on my hands.

"Lady with an Ermine" is the portrait of the 17 years old Cecilia Gallerani, the mistress of Lodovico Sforza.

111op- I totally understand your intention and probably if I were referring to him in a conversation with folks other than this crowd, I would refer to him that way as well..or even by Leonardo da Vinci. But I assumed that everyone here knew of whom I was referring and we didn't need to be quite so formal with something seemingly so familiar.

I too have lots of time today.

Well, anyway, I wasn't the one who brought this up in the first place, so I think that I'll find something else to occupy my time for now. :-)

But I'll have to look for this if I make it to Krakow some day.

Funny Ira, I just realized that your link brought up "Ferret History". Everyone/thing has a website...dedicated to ferrets in art.

Exactement, sandi_travlenut, refer to him however you wish! I've been a huge DA VINCI fan for many years (never read the Dan Brown book but I've read several biographies) but have taken several art classes. One of my fellow class members later became one of my best friends. She earned her BA in art history at UK then earned her MA in art history from a university in Manchester, England. The lady in the painting looks like her and so that has always been one of my favorites.

Coincidentally, it was this friend who regaled me with tales of Paris, her studies abroad, her 6 month tour of european countries/mideast/Japan while I was finishing up school and raising younguns. SHE is who I credit with giving me the desire to travel, especially Paris.

Anyway, I refer to him as da Vinci, knowing full well it means &quot;from Vinci&quot; (hence my desire to visit that town), because I don't want anyone confusing him with Di Caprio, a la <u>Notting Hill</u>. :D