Beyond the Book

This article relates to Leonardo's Swans

A pictorial tour of Leonardo's Swans.

• According to Karen Essex, Isabelle d'Este is the the naked Venus in this painting by Mantegna.
• Ludovico Sforza.
• Sforza's 1st mistress, Cecilia Gallerani, in a painting by Leonardo da Vinci.
• A painting that some think is of Sforza's 2nd mistress, Lucrezia Crivelli.
• Recent conjecture suggests that Isabel of Aragon was the model for Leonardo's Mona Lisa. According to art historian Maike Vogt-Luerssen, Isabel "was close to Leonardo da Vinci, the painter at her court for 11 years, and remained a friend of his, and possibly more, for most of her life."
• Sforza's wife and Isabelle's sister: Beatrice d'Este
• Leonardo da Vinci.

Did you know? The Alfa Romeo car company logo is designed from two symbols taken from the Visconti-Sforza family coat of arms.

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This "beyond the book article" relates to Leonardo's Swans. It originally ran in January 2006 and has been updated for the January 2007 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

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