Arcadópolis
La Belle Ferronnière
Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1490–1497
What you see
A young woman appears behind a stone ledge that runs along the whole bottom edge, as if she were leaning at a window. Her body is turned three-quarters and her face almost toward us, but her eyes slide off to one side, never quite meeting ours. The plain, dark background leaves her face as the brightest spot in the picture.
The red of her dress dominates, with an embroidered neckline and sleeves tied with pale ribbons that catch the light at the shoulder. Her smooth, center-parted hair frames her face like a helmet. Notice the small red jewel in the middle of her forehead and the dark necklace wound several times, its knot hanging over her chest.
About Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo was born in Vinci, near Florence, and was a painter, inventor, engineer and scientist all at once. He filled thousands of notebook pages with flying machines, studies of the human body and mirror-written notes. He finished only a few paintings, but almost all of them changed the history of art.
More by Leonardo da Vinci
The Arcadópolis Museum has 443 public-domain works in 40 rooms, free to explore in 3D in your browser.