WHO IS MONALISA AND IS SHE VERY FAMOUS?
The MonaLisa was created by the Italian
artist, Leonardo da Vinci who was born as “Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci. Da
Vinci was a true polymath who had incredible skills and knowledge in numerous
subjects.
He is widely considered to be the epitome of
the “Universal Genius” or “polymath”. He is a person who has knowledge of
various matters, drawn from all kinds of studies, ranging freely through all
the fields of the disciplines as far as the human mind with unwearied industry
is able to pursue them.
He was also the polymath of the Renaissance, a
period in history that marked the transition from the dark middle ages to
modern times spanning the 15th and 16th centuries.
1.Who is Mona Lisa?
Who is the woman depicted in the most famous painting
in the world?
The real name of the woman in the painting is Lisa del Giocondo,
who was born Lisa
Gherardini (June 15, 1479 – July 15, 1542). She came from
a wealthy family and lived in the Italian city of Florence.
The painting is believed to have been commissioned by her
husband, Francesco del Giocondo, a cloth and silk merchant who
married Lisa when she was still in her teens.
Together the couple had 5 children and
they lived a relatively comfortable life in the late 15th and early 16th
century in Florence, Italy, which was then one of the biggest cities in Europe.
This also explains why not much is known of
her life, which is in great contrast to the fame
that her portrait acquired over the centuries.
2.The identity wasn’t sure until 2005
For centuries, historians have wondered about the
true identity of the woman in da Vinci’s famous painting.
Lisa del Giocondo has always been the most possible candidate as there were
references to her in later publications, but the question remained
open for discussion.
It wasn’t until May 2005 when a manuscript
expert named Dr.
Armin Schlechter at the Heidelberg University in Germany
discovered a note by Leonardo da Vinci’s contemporary and Florence city
official named Agostino Vespucci.
Dated October 1503, he clearly mentions that Leonardo was at
that time working on a painting of Lisa del Giocondo. This forever resolved the
mystery.
3. The Mona Lisa was commissioned for a
celebration
With the mystery about the identity of the
Mona Lisa solved, we can also be certain about most of the other things written
regarding the painting. One of these things is the exact reason it was
commissioned.
This was mentioned
by Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari (July 30, 1511 –
June 27, 1574). According to him, the husband of Lisa del Giocondo was a rich
merchant, so he was able to afford the creation of a painting.
Since the couple was living a carefree
existence as upper-middle-class
citizens, the husband commissioned a painting of his wife
to celebrate their new
home, and the birth of their second son, Andrea.
4. Where does the title come from?
Vasari also made the reference to “Mona Lisa,”
which is how the painting got its name. In Italian, Mona originates from “Ma Donna”
which is a polite form of address similar to Ma’am, Madam,
or my lady in English.
5. Was the Mona Lisa left unfinished?
One of the most interesting facts about the
Mona Lisa painting is that, regardless of its enormous fame, it’s possible it’s
still an unfinished
work.
Two Italian medical doctors
reconstructed ancient sources to create a study about the
painter’s health. The study reveals that Leonardo da Vinci might
have suffered
from a stroke around 1517. This led him to be paralyzed, which
would have made it impossible to finish the Mona Lisa before his death in 1519.
6. How did the Mona Lisa end up in France?
The website of the Louvre states that the painting was started in 1503,
but leaves the question open as to how long it took for it to be completed, or
if it was ever completed at all.
In 1516, Leonardo was invited by King Francis I to work at
the Clos Lucé near the Château d’Amboise. One of the most
plausible explanations as to how it ended up in France, is that Leonardo da
Vinci didn’t finish it in time and took it with him. After his death, the painting ended up in the
collection of King Francis I.
In 1517, he showed 3 portraits to
Cardinal Louis of Aragon on his visit, one of which was of a Florentine lady which
is believed to be the
Mona Lisa.
7. The Mona Lisa became Royal French
property
How the painting ended up in France, even
though there is no absolute confirmation, appears to be logical. What happened
afterward isn’t verifiable.
What is commonly believed is that Leonardo
da Vinci’s pupil, Salaì, inherited the painting after his death
and sold it to King
Francis I. It then ended up in the Palace of
Fontainebleau, one of the residences of the French monarchs.
King Francis, I wasn’t able to get a
bargain, it’s been noted that he paid a stunning 12,000 Francs for
the painting, which is the equivalent of almost $10 million today!
8. Napoleon Bonaparte was captivated by
“Madame Lisa”
When Napoleon launched his successful coup
d’état which turned France into the “French Consulate” (and eventually into a dictatorship), he
was pretty impressed with the Mona Lisa.
So much that he even ordered it
to be hung on the wall of
his bedroom in
the Tuileries Palace in
the center of Paris to “admire it” even at night.
9. A very remarkable love story enfolded for
Napoleon
The Mona Lisa must have captivated Napoleon
so much that he fell in love with a lady who had a striking resemblance
to Lisa del Giocondo.
In fact, her name was Teresa Guadagni, and
believe it or not, was a
descendant of
the real Lisa!
Could it be Napoleon specifically sought after this woman?
10. The Mona Lisa was moved to its current
location
Eventually, Napoleon agreed to have the
painting moved to the Louvre Museum, the place where the painting is still
located at the moment.
This means that since 1804, the Mona Lisa went on permanent
display in the Louvre Museum.
11. The Mona Lisa was briefly moved in 1870
The Mona Lisa was on public view for
the first time since its creation, and it was instantly one of
the most popular attractions at the Louvre Museum for the French art intelligentsia.
The mysterious smile and illusionary setting gave the romantics of the time enough
questions to ponder
about.
That’s why it was of utmost importance that
the painting remained
well-protected, especially in times of war. When the Franco-Prussian War broke
out in 1870, it was therefore moved from the Louvre to the “Brest Arsenal,”
a heavily protected military facility near the city of Brest.
It returned to the Louvre Museum at the end of the
conflict in 1871.
12. The Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911
It was a wonderful summer morning that August 21, 1911.
The beginning of a new week, a bit hungover, but ready to get things rolling.
It was a great surprise to French painter Louis
Béroud that the Mona Lisa wasn’t in its usual location, so
without being instantly alarmed, he wondered where the photographs of it were
being taken.
Amazingly enough, there were indeed photographs being
taken on the roof of the Louvre as cameras in that time
worked better outside. Feeling a bit more at ease now, he ordered a guard
to ask the photographers
when the Mona Lisa would be returned.
Then the message came. “They don’t have the
Mona Lisa!” The conclusion was made a few seconds later: “It’s been stolen!“
13. The theft made the Mona Lisa world-famous
While the Mona Lisa had been described as
the ultimate masterpiece
of the high Renaissance since the mid19th century and was
being worshipped
by the French art intelligentsia, it’s true that the Mona
Lisa didn’t
have the same status as it has today.
Part of this hysteria has to do with
the reaction of the French authorities to the heist, and the media coverage that
spread across the world.
The Mona Lisa had become world-famous, literally overnight!
14. The real thief was caught 28 months later
Unsurprisingly, the real thief was somebody who knew the ins and outs of the Louvre museum. His name
was Vincenzo Perugia and
he had been working as a
handyman, actually installing the glass cases that were
protecting the painting.
He got help from two brothers, Vincenzo and Michele
Lancelotti. He was hoping to sell the painting.
When he finally did and tried to sell the
painting to a Florentine art dealer, he found himself
surrounded by police less than half an hour later.
His excuse: He felt like Napoleon had stolen
the painting and wanted to bring it back home, to Italy.
15. Vicenzo Perugia succeeded in his efforts
In a remarkable turn of events, Vicenzo
Perugia actually indirectly succeeded in his effort to bring the Mona Lisa back to its homeland.
After the Mona Lisa was recovered from the
Florentine art dealer, it was showcased all over Italy accompanied by banner headlines
rejoicing its return.
It was eventually returned to the Louvre shortly
after.
Over the past century, it has been proposed
that Mona Lisa was a noblewoman – Isabella d’Este, Marquise of Mantua, or
Costanza d’Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla. Others have stared at that
unsettling visage and seen the face of a man – Leonardo da Vinci himself, or
the man who was for 20 years his assistant (and perhaps his lover), Gian
Giacomo Caprotti. There is even a theory that the picture may have started out
as a portrait from life but, over the years that Leonardo worked on it, evolved
into an abstract vision of the feminine ideal.
These days, most
experts agree that the Mona Lisa is a portrait of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo,
wife of a Florentine silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo (hence the name
by which she is known in Italy and France, La Gioconda, or La Joconde). When
she sat for Leonardo da Vinci, in around 1503, she was about 24 years old.
Her contrapposto pose – with the body angled away
from the viewer, head turned forward – was widely admired and copied by
Leonardo’s contemporaries. And his sfumato technique,
where sharp edges are blurred to create an uncannily lifelike effect, was seen
as a brilliant technical innovation, very unlike the slightly frozen human
figures of earlier, lesser painters.
Well in 2010, Silvano Vinceti, chairman of Italy’s National
Committee for Cultural Heritage, claimed to have discerned letters minutely
painted on Mona Lisa’s eyes: L and V stands for Leonardo da Vinci’s initials in
the right eye, and perhaps C, E or B in the left. The Louvre then responded
that Vinceti’s letters were simply microscopic cracks in the paint.
There’s also another
speculation, In 2000, scientists at Harvard University suggested a neurological
explanation for Mona Lisa’s elusive smile. When a viewer looks at her eyes, the
mouth is in peripheral vision, which sees in black and white. This accentuates
the shadows at the corners of her mouth, making the smile seem broader. But the
smile diminishes when you look straight at it. It is the variability of her
smile, the fact that it changes when you look away from it, that makes her seem
so alive, so mysterious.
The Mona
Lisa’s background landscape also seems unreal, but the bridge might be one that
Leonardo knew. It is usually said to be Ponte Buriano in Tuscany, but in 2011,
a researcher claimed it depicts the Bobbio Bridge over the Trebbia, which was
washed away in a flood in 1472.
The distant,
dreamlike vista behind Mona Lisa’s head seems to be higher on the right-hand
side than on the left. It is hard to see how the landscape would join up. This
is subliminally unsettling: Mona Lisa appears taller, more erect, when one’s
gaze drifts to the left than when it is on the right.
Leonardo da Vinci had so much obsession on
this piece. He worked on the painting for four years, and possibly at intervals
after that. He always took it with him when he travelled, and he never signed
or dated it. The picture went with him when, towards the end of his life, he
moved to France.
It was sold to his last patron, King
François I, and remained out of sight in the royal collection for almost 200
years. In 1799 Napoleon came across the painting and commandeered it for his
bedroom. Only in 1804 did the Mona Lisa go on public display – in the newly
founded Louvre Museum.
At that time, it was not seen as
particularly interesting, but in the middle of the 19th century Leonardo’s
stock as an artist slowly rose. He came to be seen as the equal of the two
acknowledged Renaissance greats, Michelangelo and Raphael. This new interest in
Leonardo as a painter drew attention to his few known works.
