Ginevra de Benci

The only Leonardo in the Americas

Ginevra de’ Benci was a young woman from a wealthy Florentine banking family. Leonardo painted her portrait around 1474 to 1478, when he was in his early twenties. The panel is small, about 38 by 37 centimetres.

It belongs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which bought it in 1967 from the Princes of Liechtenstein. It is the only painting by Leonardo in the Americas.

A pale, reserved face

Ginevra’s face is pale and smooth, almost like porcelain, with heavy eyelids and a closed mouth. She does not smile. Her eyes look slightly past us. The expression is calm, even cool.

Her golden curls are painted strand by strand, catching the light around her face. Some areas were blended with the fingertips; Leonardo’s fingerprints have been found in the paint.

A juniper bush and a play on her name

Behind her head spreads a dark, spiky juniper bush. Juniper in Italian is ginepro, a play on her name, Ginevra. Juniper was also a symbol of chastity.

Water and trees in soft light

At the right, the background opens onto a quiet landscape of thin trees, water and a distant spire, fading into blue haze. It is one of Leonardo’s earliest experiments with atmospheric distance.

The panel was cut down

At the bottom, the portrait stops abruptly at her chest, where the blue lacing of her dress is visible. The panel was cut down, probably removing her hands. A drawing of hands by Leonardo in the Royal Collection is often linked to this lost part.

On the back of the panel, a painted wreath of laurel, palm and juniper surrounds a scroll with the Latin motto Virtutem forma decorat, “Beauty adorns virtue.”

Who was Ginevra de’ Benci?

Ginevra was born around 1457 into one of the richest families of Florence. The Benci were close associates of the Medici bank. She was educated, wrote poetry and was admired by humanist writers of the city. Around the age of sixteen she married Luigi Niccolini, a cloth merchant.

She also had a close platonic friendship with Bernardo Bembo, the Venetian ambassador to Florence. Poems were written about their attachment, celebrated as a model of chaste, intellectual love. Some scholars think the portrait was connected with Bembo, others with her marriage.

The back of the panel

The reverse of the panel is painted too. It shows a wreath of laurel and palm surrounding a sprig of juniper, tied with a scroll that reads, in Latin, “Beauty adorns virtue.” The laurel and palm were Bembo’s personal emblem, which supports the idea that he was involved in the commission.

The juniper, ginepro in Italian, is a pun on Ginevra’s name. It appears on the front too, behind her head, where its dark spiky leaves frame her pale face.

A missing lower section

The panel was cut down at some point, probably because of damage. The lower part, which likely showed Ginevra’s hands, is lost. A drawing by Leonardo of a woman’s hands, now in the Royal Collection at Windsor, may be a study for this missing section. With the hands, the portrait would have looked much closer to the later Mona Lisa.

Firsts in Florentine portraiture

Ginevra is shown in three-quarter view, not in profile, which was still unusual for portraits of women in Florence at the time. She is set outdoors, against a landscape, rather than a plain background. Leonardo also used his fingers to blend the paint in places; his fingerprints can still be seen in the surface.

Where to see it

The portrait hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it is displayed so that visitors can see both sides of the panel. Our hand-painted oil reproduction follows this composition. For more great portraits of women, explore our famous paintings of women.

Questions about Ginevra de’ Benci

Who was Ginevra de’ Benci?

A young woman from a wealthy Florentine family, painted by Leonardo around 1474 to 1478.

Where is the original?

National Gallery of Art, Washington, the only Leonardo painting in the Americas.

Why is there a juniper bush?

Juniper, ginepro in Italian, plays on her name Ginevra.

What is on the back?

A wreath with the motto Virtutem forma decorat, “Beauty adorns virtue.”

What is on the back of the painting?

A wreath of laurel and palm around a juniper sprig, with the Latin motto “Beauty adorns virtue.”

Why is there juniper in the picture?

Juniper, ginepro in Italian, is a pun on Ginevra’s name.

Can you see Leonardo’s fingerprints?

Yes. He blended some of the paint with his fingers, and the marks are still visible.

Sources and image credit

• National Gallery of Art: Ginevra de’ Benci
• Wikimedia Commons: Ginevra de’ Benci

Faithful public-domain reproduction of Ginevra de’ Benci (about 1474 to 1478), via Wikimedia Commons (National Gallery of Art Open Access). Detail images are crops of the same historical painting; no reconstruction or upscaling.