Ginevra de\u2019 Benci is Leonardo\u2019s earliest surviving portrait and his only painting on public display outside Europe. He painted it around 1474\u20131478, when he was barely into his twenties. Our hand-painted reproduction on canvas brings this early masterpiece into your home, painted in oil on canvas.<\/p>\n
The painting remained for centuries with the princely family of Liechtenstein. In February 1967 the National Gallery of Art in Washington bought it from Prince Franz Josef II for five to six million dollars \u2013 at the time the highest price ever paid for a painting. With that purchase America gained its only publicly exhibited Leonardo; everything else stayed in Europe. The original is painted in oil on a wooden panel, and the painted surface measures 38.1 \u00d7 37 cm.<\/p>\n
Behind Ginevra\u2019s head spreads a dark juniper bush. It is no accidental plant: juniper in Italian is ginepro<\/em>, a barely veiled play on the name Ginevra. At the same time juniper counted in the Renaissance as a sign of female virtue, so the plant states name and character at once. On the reverse of the panel Leonardo painted a sprig of juniper wreathed in laurel and palm, with the motto VIRTVTEM FORMA DECORAT<\/em> \u2013 \u201cBeauty adorns virtue\u201d. The portrait therefore carries its own interpretation, painted on the other side.<\/p>\n The panel is no longer what it was. The bottom section was cut away at some point, most probably because of damage, and Ginevra\u2019s hands were lost with it. Judging by the wreath on the reverse and by Leonardo\u2019s studies of hands from the same years, the portrait originally extended lower and stood closer to an upright format. Ginevra\u2019s face is therefore even more prominent today: pale, serious, almost withheld, with a gaze that passes by the viewer. It is precisely this cool detachment that separates the portrait from the amiable profile likenesses of her time.<\/p>\n Every reproduction of Ginevra de\u2019 Benci is entirely hand-painted in oil on canvas \u2013 not a print, but a real painting created for you by an experienced artist. It is available in eight sizes, stretched on a wooden frame on request and in a frame from our 3D range. The almost square format works well above a sideboard, in a hallway, or paired with a second painting of similar dimensions.<\/p>\n Ginevra de\u2019 Benci \u2013 the only Leonardo in America Ginevra de\u2019 Benci is Leonardo\u2019s earliest surviving portrait and his only painting on public display outside Europe. He painted it around 1474\u20131478, when he was barely into his twenties. Our hand-painted reproduction on canvas brings this early masterpiece into your home, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":128024,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[9810],"product_tag":[9831,9870,9862,9863],"class_list":["post-128030","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-leonardo-da-vinci","product_tag-da-vinci-en","product_tag-painter","product_tag-reproduction-en","product_tag-reproductions","pa_dimenzija-100-x-100-cm","pa_dimenzija-120-x-120-cm","pa_dimenzija-150-x-150-cm","pa_dimenzija-50-x-50-cm","pa_dimenzija-60-x-60-cm","pa_dimenzija-70-x-70-cm","pa_dimenzija-80-x-80-cm","pa_dimenzija-90-x-90-cm","pa_oblika-vertical","pa_okvir-without-frame","pa_podokvir-without","pa_podokvir-yes","first","onbackorder","purchasable","product-type-variable","has-default-attributes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA painting missing its lower part<\/h3>\n
A hand-painted reproduction for your home<\/h3>\n
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