Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Lady with an Ermine, the pride of the Czartoryski collection in Kraków, is to be shown at a major exhibition of the Italian Renaissance portrait at Berlin’s Gemaeldegalerie in August 2011.

According to the Kraków daily Dziennik Polski, the Ministry of Culture has already given its permission. All that is needed is the minister’s signature under the relevant document, which is said to be a formality.

Maria Osterwa-Czekaj, deputy president of the Czartoryski Foundation, which is the owner of the work, has said that the exhibition in Berlin is a perfect venue for the display of Lady with an Ermine, which is described as the first modern portrait in the history of painting.

Lady with an Ermine is currently on display in the Royal Castle in Warsaw (till the end of October), due to a through revamp currently under way at the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow.

Earlier this year, it was shown at the Fine Arts Museum in Budapest, and in previous years in such countries as Italy, Japan and the United States. Art conservators recently voiced their reservations as to the planned journeys of the painting, arguing that they may prove harmful for its condition. (mk)

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