What’s on the Back of This Leonardo?

Leonardo’s Ginevra de’ Benci has two painted sides. Turn from the face to the wreath and ribbon, and the portrait reveals a name pun, an earlier motto and a patron whose role remains partly uncertain. CHAPTERS 0:00 A Portrait with Another Side 0:44 Meet Ginevra 1:42 The Portrait Made of Plants 2:47 An Earlier Motto Beneath the Words 3:35 What Is Missing 4:22 The Surface Has a History Too 5:26 Two Ways to Portray a Person SOURCES NGA: Ginevra de’ Benci, obverse https://www.nga.gov/artworks/50724-ginevra-de-benci-obverse NGA: Wreath of Laurel, Palm and Juniper, reverse https://www.nga.gov/artworks/50725-wreath-laurel-palm-and-juniper-scroll-inscribed-virtutem-forma-decorat-reverse NGA:10 surprising facts about Ginevra https://www.nga.gov/stories/articles/10-surprising-facts-about-leonardo-da-vincis-ginevra-de-benci NGA Facture7: Pigment Alteration and Color Change https://www.nga.gov/research/publications/facture-vol-7-change/pigment-alteration-and-color-change NGA Free Images and Open Access https://www.nga.gov/artworks/free-images-and-open-access IMAGE CREDITS Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de’ Benci [obverse], c.1474/1478, oil on panel. National Gallery of Art, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund,1967.6.1.a. Public Domain. https://www.nga.gov/artworks/50724-ginevra-de-benci-obverse Leonardo da Vinci, Wreath of Laurel, Palm, and Juniper with a Scroll inscribed Virtutem Forma Decorat [reverse], c.1474/1478, tempera on panel. National Gallery of Art, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund,1967.6.1.b. Public Domain. https://www.nga.gov/artworks/50725-wreath-laurel-palm-and-juniper-scroll-inscribed-virtutem-forma-decorat-reverse Original script and explanatory diagrams by The Art Detail. Licensed synthetic narration: Andrew Dragon HD Latest. Diagrams are labelled and are not historical evidence. Small details. Remarkable stories. Visual notes: authentic artwork photographs are faithfully cropped/scaled. All turning panels, outlines, perspective guides and missing-area diagrams are labelled explanations. They are not 3D scans, conservation photographs or recovered artwork.