After you interact with Ginevra de' Benci long enough, what at first seem like a vacant face and distant stare begin to appear suffused with a haunting tinge of emotion. She seems pensive and ruminating, perhaps about her marriage or the departure of Bembo, or because of some deeper mystery. Her life was sad; she was sickly and remained childless. But she also had an inner intensity. She wrote poetry, one line of which survives: I ask your forgiveness; I am a mountain tiger.
In Walter Isaacson's book about Leonardo da Vinci, the character Ginevra de' Benci gradually reveals a depth to her seemingly vacant expression. Initially perceived as distant, her face eventually reflects a complex emotional state, suggesting she is lost in thought about her turbulent life, including her marriage and the absence of her beloved Bembo. Ginevra's situation is marked by sadness, sickness, and the burden of childlessness, which adds to her contemplative...
