Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda or
La Joconde,
or Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo) is a portrait by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is a painting in oil on a poplar panel, completed circa 1503–1519. It is
on permanent display at the Musée du Louvre in Paris.
The painting is a
half-length portrait and depicts a seated woman, Lisa del Giocondo, whose facial expression has been
frequently described as enigmatic.The ambiguity of the subject's expression, the
monumentality of the composition, and the subtle modeling of forms and
atmospheric illusionism were novel qualities that have contributed to the
continuing fascination and study of the work. The image is widely recognised,
caricatured, and sought out by visitors to the Louvre, and it is considered the
most famous painting in the world
Leonardo Da Vinci began
painting the Mona Lisa in 1503 or 1504 in Florence, Italy.According to Da Vinci's
contemporary, Giorgio
Vasari,
"...after he had lingered over it four years, left it unfinished...."It is known that such behavior is
common in most paintings of Leonardo who, later in his life, regretted
"never having completed a single work".
He is thought to have
continued to work on Mona Lisa for three years after he moved to France and to
have finished it shortly before he died in 1519. Leonardo took the painting from Italy to France
in 1516 when King François
I invited the
painter to work at the Clos Lucé near the king's castle in Amboise. Most likely through the heirs of
Leonardo's assistant Salai, the king bought the painting for
4,000 écus and kept it at Château
Fontainebleau,
where it remained until given to Louis
XIV. Louis XIV
moved the painting to the Palace
of Versailles. After
the French
Revolution, it was
moved to the Louvre. Napoleon I had it moved to his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace; later it was returned to the
Louvre. During the Franco-Prussian
War (1870–1871) it
was moved from the Louvre to the Brest Arsenal.
There has been much
speculation regarding the painting's model and landscape. For example, that
Leonardo probably painted his model faithfully since her beauty is not seen as
being among the best, "even when measured by late quattrocento (15th
century) or even twenty-first century standards." Some art historians in
Eastern art, such as Yukio Yashiro, also argue that the landscape in
the background of the picture was influenced by Chinese paintings; however, this thesis has been
contested for lack of clear evidence.
Mona Lisa was not well known until the
mid-19th century when artists of the emerging Symbolist movement began to appreciate it,
and associated it with their ideas about feminine mystique. Critic Walter Pater, in his 1867 essay on Leonardo,
expressed this view by describing the figure in the painting as a kind of
mythic embodiment of eternal femininity, who is "older than the rocks
among which she sits" and who "has been dead many times and learned
the secrets of the grave."
Aesthetics
Leonardo used a pyramid
design to place the woman simply and calmly in the space of the painting. Her
folded hands form the front corner of the pyramid. Her breast, neck and face
glow in the same light that models her hands. The light gives the variety of
living surfaces an underlying geometry of spheres and circles. Leonardo
referred to a seemingly simple formula for seated female figure: the images of
seated Madonna, which were widespread at the time. He effectively modified this
formula in order to create the visual impression of distance between the sitter
and the observer. The armrest of the chair functions as a dividing element
between Mona Lisa and the viewer.
The woman sits markedly
upright with her arms folded, which is also a sign of her reserved posture. Only
her gaze is fixed on the observer and seems to welcome him to this silent
communication. Since the brightly lit face is practically framed with various
much darker elements (hair, veil, shadows), the observer's attraction to it is
brought to even greater extent. The woman appears alive to an unusual measure,
which Leonardo achieved by his new method not to draw the outlines,
"mainly in two features: the corners of the mouth, and the corners of the
eyes" (Gombrich), as firmly as that had been the use, before (sfumato)There is no indication of an intimate dialogue
between the woman and the observer as is the case in the Portrait of Baldassare
Castiglione
(Louvre) painted by Raphael about ten years later, and
undoubtedly influenced by the work.
Detail of
Lisa's hands, her right hand resting on her left. Leonardo chose this gesture
rather than a wedding ring to depict Lisa as a virtuous woman and faithful wife.
The painting was among the
first portraits to depict the sitter before an imaginary landscape and Leonardo
was one of the first painters to use aerial
perspective. The enigmatic woman is portrayed
seated in what appears to be an open loggia with dark pillar bases on either side. Behind
her a vast landscape recedes to icy mountains. Winding paths and a distant
bridge give only the slightest indications of human presence. The sensuous
curves of the woman's hair and clothing are echoed in the undulating imaginary
valleys and rivers behind her. The blurred outlines, graceful figure, dramatic
contrasts of light and dark, and overall feeling of calm are characteristic of
Leonardo's style. Owing to the expressive synthesis that Leonardo achieved
between sitter and landscape it is arguable whether Mona Lisa should be
considered as a traditional portrait, for it represents an ideal rather than a
real woman. The sense of overall harmony achieved in the painting—especially
apparent in the sitter's faint smile—reflects the idea of a link connecting
humanity and nature.
Mona Lisa has no clearly visible eyebrows or
eyelashes. Some researchers claim that it was common at this time for genteel
women to pluck these hairs, as they were considered unsightly. In 2007, French engineer Pascal Cotte
announced that his ultra high resolution scans of the painting provide evidence
that Mona Lisa was originally painted with eyelashes and with better
visible eyebrows, but that these had gradually disappeared over time, perhaps
as a result of overcleaning. For modern viewers the nearly-missing eyebrows
add to the slightly semi-abstract quality of the face.
