Cecilia Gallerani (Italian pronunciation: [tʃeˈtʃiːlja ɡalleˈraːni]; early 1473 – 1536) was the favourite and most celebrated of the many mistresses of Ludovico Sforza, known as Lodovico il Moro, Duke of Milan.

While posing for the painting, she invited Leonardo, who at the time was working as court artist for Sforza, to meetings at which Milanese intellectuals discussed philosophy and other subjects.

She became a mistress of the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza "il Moro" when she was 16 or 18 and enjoyed entertaining the intellectual elite out of her apartments in his Milanese castle and seat of the ducal court at the Porta Giovia.

Although at times the details have been disputed, Leonardo da Vinci's famous lifelike portrait is considered by experts to be of Cecilia Gallerani while she still lived in Castello Sforzeco; in 1992 Shell and Sironi concluded it to have been painted around 1490 by cross-referencing and correcting the interpretation of contemporaneous evidence.

Da Vinci was the Castello Sforza court artist and engineer, yet it is believed he never painted the Duchess, which could mean she refused her own sitting on the basis of insult relating to the mistress.

But other theories on its meaning include that it is a play on Cecilia's last name and the Greek word for the animal (gallay) and/or an emblem of Sforza, whose sobriquet became 'l'Ermellino' after being awarded the Order of the Ermine by the King of Naples.

Art critics have noted that the skulls and hands/paws of the two figures are remarkably similar and these subtle details not only a testament to the skill of Da Vinci but also a hint at symbolism.

[2] The academic disagreements over the year and subject of the painting (but not its authenticity) owe to a lack of artifacts describing the work before its purchase in 1800 by Polish Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski as a gift to his mother Princess Isabella.