Whenever I am in Kraków, I visit her. I spend a great deal of time with her. I see the crowds that come to admire her — people from all over the world, including those who speak Italian, her own language. I listen with pleasure to that unfamiliar tongue, the one she once lived in.
There was a time when taking photos of her wasn’t allowed, so I drew her instead — stealing her facial features onto my paper. Cecilia was a poet, a muse at the Milanese court, the lover of a duke who was madly infatuated with her. I must admit that her story fascinated me above all because she was painted by Leonardo da Vinci, my beloved genius.
When I stand before her, I feel as if Leonardo were inside me, looking at her through my eyes. And if I could look through her eyes, perhaps I would see him the way she once did. I wish I could erase all the time that separates us. I wish I could touch them both, but I cannot — so I touch them with the tip of my pencil.
Drawings based on Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine (National Museum in Kraków).