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Only six cities in the
world can claim to house a Da Vinci painting and
Krakow is one of them.
The "Lady with
Ermine" is displayed in a Krakow museum in the Old
Town district of the city. The picture is a highly
symbolic portrait of Cecilia Gallerani. Cecilia was
the mistress of the powerful Ludovico Sforza, Duke
of Milan.
Although unsigned,
experts agree the brush strokes alone make this a
definite Leonardo masterpiece. The fact that the
great Master himself inadvertently left his smudged
fingerprint on the canvas puts it's authenticity
beyond doubt. The portrait was bought in 1800 by a
Polish prince, Adam Czartoryski, for his mother
Isabella. She displayed the painting at their
stately home in Pulawy but the subject of the
portrait was wrongly identified. It was only in the
early 20th Century that art historians identified
Cecilia Gallerani as the true subject of this
masterpiece.
During World War 2,
the painting and other treasures were placed in
hiding but were eventually found by the Nazis. The
portrait was earmarked for Hitler's private
collection and was briefly displayed in Berlin
before falling into the possession of the Nazi
governor of Poland, Hans Frank, at whose villa it
was discovered and reclaimed in 1945.
The picture is
displayed at the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, an
unassuming building at the end of Sw. Jana street in
the Old Town. The museum and it's treasures don't
receive as much publicity as some of Krakow's other
famous sights but maybe this is a blessing. There
are not many Da Vinci paintings in the world that
you can enjoy without having to jostle your way
through a crowd of tourists.
Along with other
religious paintings and other artifacts the museum
also has a Rembrandt painting. The Czartoryski
collection also contained a Raphael masterpiece but
this painting was also stolen by the Nazis and sadly
never recovered.
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