HELLO WORLD : THE MONA LISA

Hello World,

No other paintings have been festured in songs poems and stories made into parodies, studied and reproduced than this famous work of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci beetwen 1452 – 1519. Revert by art historians not only for his genius, but also for his physical beauty and grace and his thirst for knowledge, he had taken apprenticehip with a famous artist at the time he was 14. Da vinci continued to expand his interest, experiments and explorations in other fields. Although he is most renowned as a painter, the Italian was also among others a brilliant scientist, engineer, musician, writer, botanist and invetor. As a scientist and invetor da Vinci was ahead of his time although not many of his ides were feasible at the time. For example, he had ideas for a helicopter, calculator and tank. His brilliance earned him a place at the taking king’s palace until the day he died.

 The Mona Lisa was da Vinci’s chef d’oeuvre, his masterpiece, wich he started painting in 1503. A chornic procrastinator, he left it unfinished for years, finally completing it the year before he died. As with “Fur Elise” the model for Mona Lisa has been debated for years, At least four candidateds have been suggested as the model, including da Vinci mother’s Caterina and da Vinci himself. However many art historians believe the painting to be portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo. Mona is a form of address mening Ma’am or Madam. When the great master passed away, it was inherited by da Vinci’s assistan salai, who then sold it to the King Francois I. The Mona Lisa was then given as a gift to King LouisXIV and it has remained the property of the French government ever since, residing at the Musee du Louvre in Paris.

The model is not the only secret this painting holds. The smile of Madam Lisa has always been described as mysterious or ambiguous. Is she smiling or isn’t she? This is due to the painting technique, using shadows, which according to professor Margaret Livingstone of Harvard University, shows da Vinci’s understanding of how human eyes work. We pick out details better from corner of our eyes, so since the shadows make up the smile, we see the smile when we look at other parts of the painting, but not when we stare at the mouth.

A research using a high-tech scenner reveals da Vinci’s preparatory drawings under the layers of paint and varnish. The scan also shows the changes he made to the painting during its creation, such as an eyebrow and the position of an arm.                                                                     

Posted in: HISTORY