The Polish state has announced its acquisition of the Czartoryski art collection for a reported 100 million euros ($104.6 million) – well below its estimated value of €2bn. The collection consists of 86,000 museum objects and 250,000 library items, includes Leonardo da Vinci’s circa 1490 masterpiece “Lady with an Ermine” (allegorical portrait of Cecilia Gallerani) as well as Rembrandt’s “Landscape With the Good Samaritan” 1638, and drawings by Auguste Renoir.The culture.pl website states that Leonardo da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine” (allegorical portrait of Cecilia Gallerani) was purchased by Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski around 1800 from an anonymous owner in Italy. The subject of the portrait is Cecilia Gallerani, beloved mistress of Ludovico Sforza (the Duke of Milan), who is shown holding a white ermine. The painting is reportedly insured for 350 million euros ($365 million).According to the Polish Press Agency, Polish deputy PM and Culture Minister Piotr Glinski representing the State Treasury signed an agreement with Prince Adam Karol Czartoryski and the Czartoryski Foundation finalising the purchase. “Today in free Poland we have fulfilled the will of Princess Czartoryska that the collection of the Czartoryski princes ... become not only the spiritual but the actual property of the nation,” Glinski said during the ceremony.
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