is one of the greatest geniuses of all time. 500 years ago, he painted this portrait of ginevra de benci. she is so real, you can almost feel the softness of her skin. simply beautiful. ginevra's father was a wealthy and powerful florentine merchant. in their day, everyone-- especially leonardo-- was interested in things which were natural--human. ginevra's portrait shows that. but it doesn't show why she was so melancholy. something must have been wrong. leonardo said that portraits should show "the motions of the mind," and you can see how he's emphasized the pallor of ginevra's calm, intelligent, sad face. there is a theory. at 16, ginevra had married a widower twice her age. she had no children. she had been ill for some time and was suffering from the breakup of an unhappy love affair. poor ginevra. i suppose we'll never be sure, but we do know she was so beautiful and so good that even the ruler lorenzo de medici wrote sonnets to her. ginevra wrote poetry herself. all that's left is one line. "i am a tiger." "i am a tiger." i see what she means. it's a long way from that classic be