Leonardo painted the portrait in Florence between 1474 and 1478, possibly to commemorate Ginevra's marriage to Luigi di Bernardo Niccolini at the age of 16.

[4] The imagery and text on the reverse of the panel—a juniper sprig encircled by a wreath of laurel and palm, memorialized by the Latin motto Virtvtem Forma Decorat ("Beauty adorns virtue")—further support the identification of the portrait.

The phrase is understood as symbolizing the intricate relationship between Ginevra's intellectual and moral virtue on the one hand, and her physical beauty on the other.

The laurel and palm are in the personal emblem of Bernardo Bembo, a Venetian ambassador to Florence whose platonic relationship with Ginevra is revealed in poems exchanged between them.

or the Second Revised Edition of the same book, by Gingko Edizioni, Verona, ISBN 978-1676309734 For an in depth analysis of the "motions of the mind" (moti mentali) of Ginevra de Benci see Glori C, I moti mentali e la biografia di Ginevra de Benci in https://www.academia.edu/41930706/I_moti_mentali_e_la_biografia_di_Ginevra_Benci_Ritrar_listoria_nel_segno_della_psicoanalisi_e_dellarte_contemporanea