There's a lot of interesting history here that I had no idea about as far as Italy and how all those dukedoms came about (basically through rape and pillage apparently). There's definitely some guesswork here, but that's typical sometimes with this stuff; I still enjoyed learning about the general provenance of this painting and all the places it ended up (oh I learned a ton about Polish history too which I knew nothing about...). ( )

Enjoyed reading. However, I found easily correctable mistakes. Such as: on page 71, the author wrote: "After the fall of the Borgia dynasty in Venice...". Being the Borgias ever ruled Venice must come as a deep shock to both them and the Venetians. A little further down on the same page, the author wrote "...in 1525 Leonardo trailed back to Milan...". Pretty impressive, since Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519. ( )

The teenager turns her head toward something we can’t see. She is lovely but modestly dressed. She holds a white ermine, almost cuddling an animal known to be fierce and aggressive. Leonardo Da Vinci was commissioned to paint the portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, mistress of his patron the Duke of Milan. There are only four portraits of women known to be by Da Vinci. Like his Mona Lisa, he kept Lady with Ermine for years, changing it several times. He added the ermine, changed its size and color. It finally was hung in the Duke’s room…Until he married, when his wife sent the mistress, her child, and the painting out of the house.

In What the Ermine Saw, Eden Collingsworth traces the history of the painting across time as it descended down through the family who took it to Poland. The painting survived conflict and two world wars, narrowly escaping the bombing that destroyed Dresden (and provoked Kurt Vonnegut to write Slaughterhouse Five). It hung in a private museum and in the home of the Nazi who systemically eradicated Polish culture, burning books and murdering thousands and sending millions to concentration camps.

I was totally immersed in this book, the tumultuous history fascinating. I had never considered how wondrous that works of cherished works of Western art survived at all.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased. ( )