commission for this painting, I have yet to do the ermines eyes...:) Leonardo da Vinci's Masterpiece Krakow is one of just six places in the world that can boast a painting by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), the old masters old master. And there are known only three his female portraits of which Krakows Lady with an Ermine is arguably the most beautiful. Its also in the best shape after the 500-plus years that elapsed. Leonardos masterpiece in The Czartoryskich Museum at 19 Sw. Jana street depicts a delightful teenage beauty, most probably Cecilia Gallerani who was the mistress of Milans ruler Lodovico Sforza il Moro, the artists patron. Most likely Leonardo da Vinci painted her in his early thirties, between 1482 and 1485i.e. some 20 years before the Louvres famed Mona Lisaand for the first time he showed the sitter in the way that would soon become the standard. Art historians maintain its the worlds first modern-age portrait ever painted. That stunning picture is 40.3 cm wide and 54.8 cm high, oil on walnut board. Unfortunately, the original background has been overlaid probably in the 17th c. The portrait of the Lady with an Ermine was bought by Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski in Italy and incorporated into The Czartoryskis family collections in 1800