Ginevra de Benci

A pale young Florentine, Ginevra de' Benci, holds the middle distance with cool detachment, her ringlets crisp against a spiky juniper - ginepro, a play on her name - and a landscape softening into mist and water. The only Leonardo in the Americas, it is among the first portraits to weave a sitter so fully into atmosphere and meaning; the reverse bears a wreath and the motto 'beauty adorns virtue.' The panel was later cut down at the base, taking her hands with it. Even trimmed, the modeling of the face foretells the sfumato veils, the smoke-soft transitions, of his maturity.