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HISTORY OF ART

Leonardo da Vinci – Lady with an Ermine

In her history of art series, Sarah Edmonds shines a light on lesser-known artworks by artists we know and love. This month she explores the work of Leonardo da Vinci
Sarah Edmonds is the marketing manager for Pegasus Art, a freelance art marketing consultant and a watercolour painter. Sarah studied a short course at the Slade School of Fine Art followed by a degree in marketing and has worked in the industry ever since. sarahedmonds-marketing.com

The inimitable Leonardo da Vinci needs no introduction: multitalented genius, master painter and polymath who left an indelible mark on the history of art. Not only did he furnish patrons and palaces with masterpieces, but his legacy extends to sketchbooks filled with jaw-dropping inventions including designs for a flying machine, a tank and the first solar energy, all sketched and annotated with his famous back-to-front mirror writing. They are astonishing and the documents can be viewed online as part of the Codex Forster on the V&A website (link below). Da Vinci was light years ahead of his time.

Unlike any other master before him, he had a greater understanding of the human form, embryology, the laws of light and nature. For this reason, he reigns supreme in his depiction of eyes (think of the Mona Lisa, whose eyes follow you around the room) and a sublime painter of gesture and hands. He was a passionate lover of nature, moved by both solemn sights and everyday miracles – to such an extent that he was not religious. His pantheism was a deep reflection on existence, free from any traditional creed. Some of his last drawings ever made were vortices and cataclysms.

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The Artist
June 2025
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