Art Talk: Ginevra de’ Benci

This month for Art talk we are looking at the National Gallery of Art Highlight tour. This week we are going to highlight one of the paintings from this tour-- Ginevra de’ Benci.

In talking about Ginevra de’ Benci, Curator of Italian Painting David Brown said,

It’s been our most celebrated Italian work from the moment it was acquired in 1967, not only because of it’s rarity, but because, I think, Leonardo really speaks to us today, with his fascination with innovation, and his combined interests in science, technology and art. 1

Leonardo Da Vinci
Ginevra de Benci, 1474
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Ginevra de Benci is definitely a highlight of the National Gallery of Art.

Why?

There are only 19 paintings by Leonardo da Vinci in existence.

Leonardo created it when he was only 22 years old.

Leonardo chose to pose Ginevra in the newly popular three-quarter view, showing us more of her features, and more of her personality.

Leonardo’s portrait, wonderful as it is, is actually only a fragment.

Leonardo used oil instead of tempera, which allowed for a much more fluid and flexible handling of the paint.

Leonardo placed her in an open setting at a time when women were still shown carefully sheltered within the walls of their family homes, with landscapes glimpsed only through open windows.

The reported $5 million price tag was the largest sum ever paid for a work of art until that time (1967).

Sources 1 and 2 and 5

My first introduction to Ginevra was in 2001 when I moved to Washington, DC.

Sara Jarvie with Ginevra de Benci in 2012

The first exhibit I saw in the gallery was Virtue and Beauty. It was curated by David Brown and ran September 2001- January 2002 with an attendance of 171,926. 3

This beautiful portrait caught my attention and I have been back to the gallery numerous times during the 6 years I lived in DC and each year in the 13 years that I have lived in Arizona. This is the first year I have not visited DC and therefore the first year I have not gone to the National Gallery of Art and visited Ginevra.

One of the things that was most intriguing is that this is a double sided portrait.

From the Virtue and Beauty Exhibition PDF we learn that,

The front side portrays the soberly dressed young woman in a landscape, while the back depicts a wreath of laurel and palm encircling a sprig of juniper. Entwined around the plants is a scroll with a Latin inscription meaning "Beauty Adorns Virtue." The fact that the wreath is truncated at the bottom indicates that the panel, now measuring about fifteen inches square, was cut down in the past. (page 143) 4

Another interesting thing to note is the red seal in the top left corner. David Brown tells us,

the red wax seal in the upper right corner shows that it belonged to the princes of Liechtenstein for more than 200 years." 1

In June I did an Art Talk post Provenance about the fascinating history and ownership of Raphael's Alba Madonna.

The Provenance of Ginevra de’ Benci is fascinating too. John Walker, then director of the Gallery, describes his first encounter with Ginevra, owned since the early 18th century by the princes of Liechtenstein, at their castle in Vaduz.

"Other paintings were on exhibition in the museum the Prince of Liechtenstein had built in his capital, but Ginevra was too precious to be hung with the rest of the collection. . . . Finally in August 1960 . . ., guided by the prince’s curator, we went into the cellar where there was a trapdoor balanced by a huge counterweight. The trapdoor was lifted, and we descended more narrow stairs to a deep subcellar, where a few of the prince’s greatest treasures were stored. . . . There, on a nail, I saw Ginevra hanging." [2]

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Oh I am so grateful for museums and their ability to preserve and protect great art so it can be seen by millions of people.

I hope you have enjoyed this introduction to this amazing painting, Ginevra de’ Benci by the great Italian Renaissance master Leonardo De Vinci. I am happy to do a post on Ginevra. She is like an old friend and this will be the first year in 19 years that I have not lived or visited DC and went to the NGA to see her.

Sources:
1- Audio of Dan Brown speaking of Ginevra de’ Benci
2- Provenance Study: The Princely Collections of Liechtenstein
3- Virtue and Beauty
4-Virtue and Beauty Exhibition PDF
5-Ginevra de' Benci [obverse]

Art Talk Series Highlights

2020
Art Talk: Recycled Plastic Art Movement
Art Talk: Gates of Paradise
Art Talk: Sunrise as abstract art

March- Italian Renaissance
Art Talk: NGA Italian Renaissance Tour
Art Talk: Raphael
Art Talk: Venus
Art Talk: Egg Tempera
Art Talk: Guest Blogger, @laurabellamy

April- French Impressionism
Art Talk: NGA French Impressionism Tour
Art Talk: Fredric Bazille
Art Talk: The Mother and Sister of the Artist
Art Talk: En plein air

May- Hudson River School
Art Talk: NGA Hudson River School Tour
Art Talk: Albert Bierstadt
Art Talk: The Voyage of Life
Art Talk: Romanticism & Nature & Hudson River School

June-Andrew Mellon and the Hermitage
Art Talk: NGA Andrew Mellon and the Hermitage Tour
Art Talk: Rembrandt
Art Talk: The Annunciation
Art Talk: Provenance

July-Portraiture
Art Talk: NGA Portrait Tour
Art Talk: Rembrandt Peale
Art Talk: Portrait of My Grandmother

October-NGA Highlights
Art Talk: NGA Highlights tour