I got the message about the Tate display (others will too I'm sure
if they get Google Alerts on "ferrets" in their inboxes each day).
"Ferreting out the truth about Leonardo's Ermine"

The display of Leonardo Da Vinci pictures includes the famous "Lady
with an Ermine" painting. My ophthalmologist (who knows I have ferrets)
is from Europe and has seen the original when it was displayed for a
short time to the public in the national museum in Krakow, Poland and
she says it was just really beautiful. (She was curious about the
animal since it looked too tame to be a mink or an ermine - she was
interested to hear it was probably a ferret ).

There's a Krakow website showing the picture
http://www.krakow-info.com/dama.htm
and you can click on a link below the picture to get an enlarged image.
The ferret's coat looks a bit short, but some white ferrets do have
fairly short coats - and it may be a summer picture. On some sites
discussing the earliest depictions of ferrets as pets, it's suggested
Leonardo probably knew it was a ferret since mink are small (this
animal is a pretty good size - and placid) and the lady would be
bleeding from being bitten. However, one site suggests the animal was
painted in afterwards.

Here's the original Daily Telegraph article on the crowd reactions to
the painting:
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/leonardo-da-vinci/8884647/Will-The-Lady-with-an-Ermine-topple-the-Mona-Lisa-as-the-worlds-favourite-painting.html>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/leonardo-da-vinci/8884647/Will-The-Lady-with-an-Ermine-topple-the-Mona-Lisa-as-the-worlds-favourite-painting.html>

And here's a critique of what the creature is - along with a nice 
picture of a very cute handsome stoat/ermine in winter plumage.
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/8916532/Ferreting-out-the-truth-about-Leonardos-ermine.html>

There are other newspaper sites discussing the picture such as the
Guardian site and numerous sites on-line discussing Cecilia Gallerani
(The Lady) who seems to have led a long and interesting life.

Meryl

[Posted in FML 7257]