2020 IB Extended Essays

6

Cecilia is positioned at a three-quarter angle to the right whilst her head faces to the left, eyes fixed on something in the distance with a hint of a smile on her lips. This pyramidic structure, along with the ermine turning to the right, is a great showcase of Da Vinci’s interest in the dynamics of movement and human anatomy. Da Vinci utilises his skills in chiaroscuro, using shadows to enhance the three dimensions of Cecilia’s figure. The artist heavily uses the painting technique of sfumato to create very smooth and gradual tone and colour changes, particularly evident in the eye and mouth areas on the face. Fingerprints on the paint’s surface found in a laboratory analysis demonstrated that to ensure this perfect blend, Da Vinci utilised his fingers to further blend his brushwork. Da Vinci uses a great amount of detail in his portraiture, Cecilia’s right hand is painted in a very large amount of detail, featuring the wrinkles in the knuckles and the flex in the forefinger’s tendon. The ermine’s ear was also painted with nearly every hair of fur individually painted.

The Censorship of Renaissance Artwork In anticipation of Germany’s invasion into Poland of 1939, both paintings were transported to Sieniawa, however, shortly after, it was discovered and stolen by the Gestapo. This is a fitting metaphor for the multiple attempts made by the Germans to trample Polish cultural institutions such as the Czartiryski Museum in Krakow. As

Figure 3: Photograph of members of the Polish police holding the “Lady with an Ermine” after its return in Poland in 1945.

both pieces were created by Italian artists, they were not included in the Entartete Kunst exhibition where only German degenerate art was displayed. Instead, they were stored in Han Frank’s home before moved to Berlin where it was to be