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Italy commemorates DaVinci with a 2 euro coin

May 2, 2019 marks the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci. To commemorate the date Italy emitted a 2 euro coin depicting Kraków's "Lady with an Ermine".

It is one of only four portraits of women painted by Leonardo, the others being the Mona Lisa, the portrait of Ginevra de' Benci, and La belle ferronnière. The painting was purchased in 2016 from the Czartoryski Foundation by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for the National Museum in Kraków, and has been on display in the museum's main building since 2017. It is one of Poland's national treasures.

Leonardo was, and is, renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time. Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, textbooks, and T-shirts.

In the left field are the inscription “Leonardo”, the initials of the author Maria Angela Cassol “MAC” and the monogram “RI”, an acronym of the Italian Republic. In the right field are “R”, the identification of the ZECCA (Italian Mint) and the dates “1519-2019”. Leonardo DA VINCI died in 1519. The issuing volume is 3 million coins.