The lady is Cecilia Gallerani, niece and mistress of Duke Ludovico Sforza in late 15th-century Milan.
His other memorable portraits included those of noblewomen " Ginevra de Benci " and " Cecilia Gallerani ".
The subject has been identified with reasonable certainty as Cecilia Gallerani, who was the mistress of Leonardo's employer, Ludovico Sforza.
Leonardo appears to have had no close relationships with women except for his friendship with Cecilia Gallerani and the two Este sisters, Beatrice and Isabella.
Leonardo made the painting around 1490; it probably depicts Cecilia Gallerani, mistress of Duke Lodovico Sforza, at whose Milanese court the painter was working.
Cecilia Gallerani was a member of a large family that was neither wealthy nor annul the marriage in 1487 for undisclosed reasons and the request was granted.
The person portrayed in the painting is thought to be Cecilia Gallerani, a striking figure at the Milan court, a friend of poets and a poet herself.
""'Lady with an Ermine " "'is a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, dated to around 1489 1490, which depicts Cecilia Gallerani.
The subject of the portrait is Cecilia Gallerani, painted at a time when she was the mistress of Ludovico Sforza, the portrait of Ginevra de'Benci, and " La belle ferronni鑢e ".
He composed an effusive ode to Cecilia Gallerani, the " Lady with an Ermine " in her portrait by Leonardo, " the envy of Nature ", which has permitted the identification of the sitter : " She seems to listen and not talk ."