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The extraordinary journey of Leonardo da Vinci’s most mysterious portrait

Some 530 years ago, a young Italian woman not much older than a girl, sat for her portrait. It was a customary practice in Europe to commission a noblewoman’s portrait in anticipation of marriage, marriage being a transactional event with political or monetary value. She is known simply as Lady with an Ermine. The year she was painted is believed to be 1490, though even that date is disputable.