10 Surprising Facts About Leonardo da Vinci’s “Ginevra de’ Benci”

1. Leonardo painted Ginevra de’ Benci before the Mona Lisa

Leonardo painted Ginevra de’ Benci when he was in his early twenties, around 1474 to 1478. He would paint the Mona Lisa some 30 years later.

Without the experiments and innovations Leonardo made while painting Ginevra, the Mona Lisa might have looked very different.

2. Leonardo was testing new techniques and poses

Ginevra is one of the first works Leonardo made with oil paint. The versatile material had only recently spread from northern to southern Europe. Compared to egg tempera, oil paint dried slowly and could be applied in thin layers. This allowed Leonardo to realistically capture the shadows on Ginevra’s face and the haze of the distant landscape.

Leonardo applied the same naturalism to Ginevra herself. Rather than outlining her features, he paints how light reflects off her skin. Notice the deep shadow under her chin.

The position of the subject is another innovation. Ginevra’s shoulder and torso turn to the side, in what is now known as a three-quarter pose. At the time, people were traditionally painted in profile. This is one of the first Italian portraits of a woman to show its subject facing in our direction.

3. Leonardo finger painted

How do we know? We can see his fingerprints. Leonardo used his hands to blend parts of the painting, such as where the sky meets the juniper bush above Ginevra’s shoulder. This allowed him to create soft transitions that show the world as he saw it. The artist believed that our eye perceives objects in the distance in a blue haze.

4. Leonardo broke Ginevra free

It may not seem unusual today, but the painting’s outdoor setting was radical in the 16th century. At the time, women were shown indoors, the outdoor world glimpsed only through open windows. As he would later do with the Mona Lisa, Leonardo painted Ginevra outside, free from the confines of her home.

But did he do it because he wanted to challenge society’s restrictions on women? Or because he wanted to paint more landscape?

5. Leonardo painted more of Ginevra than we can see

The painting we see today is only part of the original portrait. At some point, the panel was cut down along the bottom. A surviving drawing by Leonardo suggests that he painted Ginevra’s hands cradled at her waist.

We also think Ginevra may have held a small flower, perhaps a dianthus (known as a pink). In Renaissance portraits, pinks commonly symbolized devotion or virtue.

6. Ginevra was a 16-year-old poet with many admirers

Ginevra de’ Benci was the daughter of a Florentine banker. Because of her family’s wealth and class, Ginevra was permitted an education. She was known as a poet and good conversationalist. Her intelligence and beauty caught the attention of many men who wrote poems dedicated to her.

Unfortunately, none of Ginevra’s poetry survives, except for one intriguing line: “I ask your forgiveness and I am a mountain tiger.”

7. The painting’s back may hold clues to its origin

Leonardo may have painted Ginevra’s portrait on the occasion of her engagement to Luigi Niccolini in 1474. But details on its reverse suggest an alternate reason.

At the center of the back panel is a sprig of juniper, a pun on Ginevra’s name. (Juniper is ginepro in Italian.) A scroll wrapped around it reads, in Latin, “beauty adorns virtue”—another reference to Ginevra.

But notice the wreath of laurel and palm framing the juniper. These leaves were symbols of intellectual and moral virtue. They were also the personal emblem of Bernardo Bembo, the Venetian ambassador to Florence and one of Ginevra’s admirers. Scientific analysis also revealed that the scroll originally read, “virtue and honor”—Bembo’s personal motto. These clues suggest that he may have commissioned the portrait.

8. The painting once belonged to the Prince of Liechtenstein

We don’t know for sure who commissioned the painting or what happened to it once it was finished. The earliest records we have indicate that, by 1712, Prince Johann Adam Andres I of Liechtenstein had bought it. A red seal on the reverse dating to 1733 marks the work as part of the collection of the princes of Liechtenstein.

The painting remained in that collection for more than 250 years—until 1967. After losing much of their fortune in World War II, the family was selling some of their art collection to rebuild financial stability. That’s when Prince Franz Josef II decided to sell the painting to the National Gallery.

9. Ginevra flew to the US in a custom suitcase and a first-class seat

Mario Modestini, then the National Gallery’s painting conservator, had a unique challenge when he was tasked with bringing the priceless work of art from Liechtenstein to Washington, DC. Ginevra de’ Benci had been hanging in the basement of the Liechtenstein family’s castle. Moving the wood panel from the cool cellar to a warmer climate could warp the wood or crack the paint.

Modestini came up with an inventive solution. He retrofitted a gray, waterproof American Tourister suitcase with a Styrofoam interior and a temperature and humidity gauge. Ginevra de’ Benci was wrapped in plastic inside a plywood box inside that suitcase. The unassuming piece of luggage allowed him to protect the work without drawing any attention to his precious cargo. Modestini reserved a first-class seat for the painting on Swissair Flight 100 from Zurich to New York under the name “Mrs. Modestini.”

10. The painting’s arrival in the US was front-page news

Modestini and the painting were met by FBI agents when they landed in New York. A private plane then took them on the final leg of their journey to DC.

The National Gallery acquiring the work became front-page news when it was announced on February 20, 1967. The reported price tag of $5 million was then the largest sum ever paid for a work of art.

Ginevra de’ Benci went on view on March 17. It was immediately met with lines of visitors eager to admire the portrait firsthand. Nearly 1,000 people saw the painting in just the first hour it was on view.