Whatever the case, it still boils down to a portrait of a woman. But how does this portrait stand against his other female portraits?.
In his lifetime, da Vinci produced many portraits of many women, but only four were oil paintings on either paper or wood paneling. These four paintings are "The Mona Lisa," "Lady with an Ermine," "Ginevra de' Benci," and "La belle ferronniere." "Lady with an Ermine" was predicted to out show the "Mona Lisa" because of its captivating presence. One of the first differences is that it isn't just one subject; it's two, the lady and her pet. The Lady portrait has the subject looking off to the right, her left, of the painting, making us wonder what she is looking at. She looks as if she is listening to a distant conversation, as many have speculated. .
The Lady is dressed in much more colorful clothing and almost has the same expression on her face as the Mona Lisa. Both paintings, however, are painted in the sfumato technique, making them look soft and mysterious. The Lady has been identified as Cecilia Gallerani. She was the mistress of Leonardo's employer, Ludovico Sforza, who most likely commissioned this work. Her identity was mush easier to find than the Mona Lisa's. The Lady also has a more known symbolic meaning of purity. Just looking at the two side by side, you can notice many differences still; their hair is different, the Lady's is up, Lisa's is down, Lisa is resting her hands on each other, The Lady is holding onto her pet. But if the paintings are similar in some ways, why is it that the Mona Lisa is still the most recognized? .
Compared to another female portrait by da Vinci, "La belle ferronniere" is very different and similar as well. First of all, it is still unclear who La belle is, there are many ideas and theories of who it could be, but none are for certain. One of the first things noticed is that La belle is looking over her shoulder instead of at the viewer, like the Mona Lisa.