She was the daughter of a wealthy Florentine banker, and her portrait—the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519) in the Americas—was probably commissioned about the time of her marriage at age sixteen. The portrait is among Leonardo’s earliest experiments with the new medium of oil paint; the careful observation of nature and subtle three-dimensionality of Ginevra's face point unmistakably to the new naturalism with which Leonardo would transform Renaissance painting. Other features of Ginevra's portrait reveal young Leonardo as an innovator. He placed her in an open setting at a time when women were still shown carefully sheltered within the walls of their family homes, with landscapes glimpsed only through an open window. The three-quarter pose, which shows her steady reserve, is among the first in Italian portraiture, for either sex.
This magnet features a painting from the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington: Ginevra de’ Benci, c. 1474/1478, Leonardo da Vinci.
Magnet is 2 x 2 inches.
