Lady with an Ermine

Today we practiced asking explicit and implicit questions.

Dawson got everyone thinking with this excellent insight: Sometimes, whether a question is explicit or implicit depends on who is answering the question.

For example, several students asked what kind of animal the lady is holding in the portrait, and there was a lively debate about whether this was an explicit or implicit question.

Dawson pointed out that for a professional zoologist, this would be more of an explicit question, because he or she could determine the type of animal just by looking at it, based on extensive knowledge about animal-types.  For a regular person, though, it would be more of an implicit question, because a regular person would have to do additional research about the animal and would not be able to identify it as an ermine just by looking at the painting.

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Here are some of the other great questions about Leonardo's painting...

Rosalie: Why did the artist choose to paint this particular lady?

Kimball: What emotions is the lady feeling? (and Caroline had an excellent twist on this question): What emotions is the ermine feeling?

Cole, Amrit, and Seppi: What is the painting supposed to symbolize? What does the ermine symbolize?

Gardiner: Does the lady have a special connection with the ermine?

Here's another portrait in which an ermine makes an appearance!  
Can any of you identify this famous queen?