Who Was Leonardo da Vinci 达·芬奇 Chapter 7 Leonardo’s Ladies

Not everything in Leonardo’s career ended in failure. Sometimes he actually finished a job. It is true that only ten completed paintings are known to be by Leonardo. That’s a tiny number. But each and every one is a treasure.

The story is that in 1505 a rich silk merchant wanted a portrait of his wife. He asked Leonardo to paint it. Leonardo had told friends that he had “grown weary of the paintbrush.” He meant that painting didn’t bring him much joy anymore. But perhaps he needed the money. Or perhaps the woman’s face caught his interest, especially her smile. Whatever the reason, Leonardo took the job. And he finished the painting although he worked on it for many years.

Nobody knows for sure what the woman’s name was. Her first name may have been Lisa. She may have been Lisa del Giocondo. In English, the painting is called the Mona Lisa.

In the portrait, only the top half of Mona Lisa’s body is shown. Behind her is a landscape. A winding¹ road leads back to craggy mountains that disappear in mist.

Mona Lisa’s black dress is very simple. And she does not wear fancy jewelry². A thin black veil covers her long curling hair. Then, as now, it was the custom for widows to wear black. So perhaps Mona Lisa was not the wife of a silk merchant. Perhaps she was someone else about whom we know nothing. It is one of the mysteries surrounding the painting.

Her hands are crossed and rest one on top of the other. They are very graceful³ with soft, long fingers. Looking at them, it is easy to believe there is muscle and bone beneath the skin. It is possible to forget that her hands are just brushstrokes of paint on a flat surface.

But it is the expression on her face that draws people to her. Her lips are pressed together in a calm half-smile. She looks as if she is keeping a secret. Her eyes are full of mystery, too. They appear to look out at something only she can see.

The Mona Lisa is probably the most famous painting in the world. Why? No one can really answer that question. But Leonardo loved the painting, too. When he was finished, he decided⁴ to keep it. In fact, he kept it with him, wherever he went, for the rest of his life.

Many people consider another portrait of a woman by Leonardo even more beautiful than the Mona Lisa. It is called Young Girl with Ermine. An ermine is a type of weasel. In winter, its coat turns white—just as it appears in the painting. Ermine hairs were used for paintbrushes. So it’s possible that Leonardo painted the ermine with an ermine brush!

Why is an ermine in the picture? It may be there as a play on words. The young girl’s name was Cecilia Gallerani. And gale⁵ in Greek means “ermine.”

As in the Mona Lisa, only the top half of the young girl is painted. But there is no landscape behind her. She stands against a dark solid background. Neither she nor the animal looks directly at the viewer. Instead, her face is turned so that she is gazing off to the side. At what or at whom? No one knows. She wears richer clothes than the Mona Lisa’s. A long strand⁶ of beads⁷ is looped around her neck. Her dress is part blue, part red, with gold lining⁸ and black trim. The fabric⁹ looks as if it is made of velvet¹⁰.

Mona Lisa is dreamy looking. The young lady here looks like she has a quick, sharp mind. You can see it in her alert eyes, the set of her mouth and chin. One hand holds the ermine closely against her shoulder. The ermine looks alert and intelligent, too. The girl’s hand is beautiful. It’s painted to perfection. But her thin fingers are tense. Mona Lisa’s fingers are plump and relaxed. Through the poses and the faces, Leonardo catches the soul of two very different women.

Young Girl with Ermine is not as famous as the Mona Lisa. It hangs in a museum in Kraków, Poland. The Mona Lisa is in the Louvre, a famous museum in Paris where crowds come every day to see her. Which painting is more beautiful? People lucky enough to see both must decide that for themselves.

Another Leonardo portrait of a young woman is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It is the only painting by Leonardo in the United States. Her name was Ginevra de’ Benci. It is even smaller than the Mona Lisa or Young Girl with Ermine. The bottom was cut off at some point, so now the painting shows only Ginevra’s head and chest. Her skin is almost ghostly pale. Her eyes seem sorrowful. It is very hard to “read” her expression. That is one of the reasons why people keep looking at the painting. Portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci is haunting.

1 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

2 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

3 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 gale   

n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等）

参考例句：

• We got our roof blown off in the gale last night.昨夜的大风把我们的房顶给掀掉了。
• According to the weather forecast,there will be a gale tomorrow.据气象台预报，明天有大风。

6 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

7 beads   

n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链

参考例句：

• a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链
• Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。

8 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

9 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

10 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。