Lady with the Ermine, Remembering Leonardo Print

When I first saw Cecilia Gallerano, also known as "The Lady with the Ermine", I was the same age as her, sixteen. Wonderful, sassy, daredevil age! Power, huge plans and hopes - the whole world is still ahead of you, you just need to reach out!... While the somewhat stiff art mediator of the Wawel Palace Museum was deciphering for us the symbolism of the depicted animal in the hands of this young lady (an ermine signified her lover, the Duke of Sforza) - I admired with envy and delight ... No, not the exotic little animal, not the gentleness of the 500 years smile. The eroticism of the famous sleeve also left me cold. What fascinated me at that moment was.... well... The hand. I myself, unfortunately, do not possess expressive hands: much too small they are, too unserious, hardly corresponding to any of my ambitions of that time. But that one... No, really, just look at that paw! Unbelievable! Not only a little pet or a local king could be easily put to an end with it, - even the wheel of the European would not be safe from its grasp! That's what I call symbolism. Yes: The gentleness and the prudish look on the picture are deceiving: we are dealing with a strong, tough woman here. Extreme caution is required with her. Yes, indeed: all the lovers of this lady, and their number was not exactly small since the days of the Duke of Sforza - usually ended badly. For illegal possession, these men sometimes even paid with their lives. The notorious Hans Frank, for example, the Governor General of Poland: he shared the dormitory at the Wawel with this beauty, then wanted to smuggle her out, but the Nuremberg Tribunal was quicker... And as for her subsequent socialist master: well, his demise was not particularly glorious either. As we all know, in 1991, he simply ceased to exist. We can only hope that with its current, finally rightful owner, Prince Adam Karol Czartoryzhsky, the grandson of the same Adam Czartoryzhsky, who 220 years ago, when he was still working as the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, bought this precious piece of Renaissance and brought it to Poland - this strong-willed beauty will be more merciful...