Portrait of a Princess

In the 1440s Pisanello was moving between the small courts of northern Italy, and Ferrara, ruled by the Este family, was one of his richest stops. That is the world this young woman belongs to. Look at the two-handled vase embroidered on her sleeve. That is the badge of the Este, the same emblem Pisanello worked into a medal he cast for Lionello d'Este, so we can be fairly sure she was born or married into that family. There is a sprig of juniper on the front of her gown, and because juniper in Italian is ginepro, some read it as a quiet pun on the name Ginevra, which is why she is often called Ginevra d'Este. It stays a guess. The inventories never recorded who she was, and her sharp profile against a bank of flowers and butterflies keeps its own counsel.