Are you warm, are you real, Mona Lisa?
Or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art?
- Nat ‘King’ Cole
What is it about Leonardo DaVinci’s painting that fascinates us so much? Why do historians write books about it? Why do musicians write songs about it? Why do we continue to stare at this painting, 500 years after it was made?
The simple answer is that the Mona Lisa continues to fascinate us because it is famous. And yet, despite 500 years of celebrity, we know very little about the Mona Lisa. In fact, almost every facet of the painting and its history is the subject of some sort of scholarly debate. Even the paintings name is controversial.
In this country, we know Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting of the smirking woman as ‘Mona Lisa’. But in Italy, she is known as ‘La Giocanda’ or ‘Monna Lisa’. ‘La Giocanda’ is a reference to the last name of the woman in the picture. According to Giorgio Vasari, a Renaissance biographer of Leonardo Da Vinci, a Neapolitan woman named Lisa Gherardini was the model for the famous painting we call ‘Mona Lisa’. Gherardini was the wife of a Florentine businessman name Francesco del Giocando. It is not known who commissioned the painting, but the belief is that the woman in the Mona Lisa is a real woman, Lisa Giocando.
The name Mona Lisa also comes from the name of the model. In Italy during Renaissance times, women of respect were referred to as ‘mia donna’, or ‘my lady’. This expression of respect is often shortened to ‘monna’, just as ‘my lady’ is contracted to become ‘ma’lady’. So the name Mona Lisa is simply an Americanization of Monna Lisa, or Lady Lisa.
That is one theory as to who the woman in the painting is. Another theory is that she is Leonardo Da Vinci and that the painting is a self portrait. Popular as this theory is among some people, there is no evidence to back it up. Another theory is that the painting is of Isabella of Aragona. Isabella married the Duke of Milan, who died after falling off of his horse. Some believe that after the death of her husband, Isabella married Leonardo Da Vinci in secret. There is only circumstantial evidence to support this theory.
Beyond the debates about who Mona Lisa is and what we should call the painting, there is further controversies revolving around the picture. There are rumors of Leonardo Da Vinci painting multiple Mona Lisas. Some even depicted the subject in the nude. The Mona Lisa was a major breakthrough for its time and was immediately copied by artists trying to learn Leonardo’s technique. For this reason, there are various versions of the Mona Lisa almost as old as the original, floating around. Some claim to be Leonardo’s own work, but only the painting we know as the Mona Lisa is recognized as being Da Vinci’s.
Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa inspired so many imitations from its unveiling because it revolutionized portrait painting. First, the woman is depicted from the waist up, not from the shoulders up as was typical for the time. Second, the landscape behind her is a detailed landscape that is as thought out and well executed as the woman. Again, this was not the norm for the time.
The most important reason why the Mona Lisa caused such a sensation was Da Vinci’s use of sfumato. Sfumato is the blending of shadow to create realism. Nowhere on the Mona Lisa can you find a border or hard edge. Da Vinci invented a new technique for painting that created strikingly realistic figures. This is why the Mona Lisa is famous. Before her, paintings were two dimensional, flat representations of people. But the Mona Lisa, she could almost wink at you.
Since her unveiling, the Mona Lisa has inspired admirers and critics. This love/hate relationship that the art world has with her has led to an even greater celebrity. At the beginning of the 20th century, the painting was actually stolen and Pablo Picasso was interrogated as a suspect. In the middle part of that century, vandals doused the Mona Lisa with acid and threw a rock at her. Later, she was sent on a global exhibition where the lines were so long that, in Japan, viewers were given no more than two seconds to stand before her before being ushered on.
The Mona Lisa is a cultural icon, a watermark in the Western Civilization. She reveals to us as much about artistry as she does about the cult of celebrity that engulfs us all. Love her or hate her, you cannot deny her. She is real, much more than a cold and lonely, lovely work of art.
Or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art?
- Nat ‘King’ Cole
What is it about Leonardo DaVinci’s painting that fascinates us so much? Why do historians write books about it? Why do musicians write songs about it? Why do we continue to stare at this painting, 500 years after it was made?
The simple answer is that the Mona Lisa continues to fascinate us because it is famous. And yet, despite 500 years of celebrity, we know very little about the Mona Lisa. In fact, almost every facet of the painting and its history is the subject of some sort of scholarly debate. Even the paintings name is controversial.
In this country, we know Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting of the smirking woman as ‘Mona Lisa’. But in Italy, she is known as ‘La Giocanda’ or ‘Monna Lisa’. ‘La Giocanda’ is a reference to the last name of the woman in the picture. According to Giorgio Vasari, a Renaissance biographer of Leonardo Da Vinci, a Neapolitan woman named Lisa Gherardini was the model for the famous painting we call ‘Mona Lisa’. Gherardini was the wife of a Florentine businessman name Francesco del Giocando. It is not known who commissioned the painting, but the belief is that the woman in the Mona Lisa is a real woman, Lisa Giocando.
The name Mona Lisa also comes from the name of the model. In Italy during Renaissance times, women of respect were referred to as ‘mia donna’, or ‘my lady’. This expression of respect is often shortened to ‘monna’, just as ‘my lady’ is contracted to become ‘ma’lady’. So the name Mona Lisa is simply an Americanization of Monna Lisa, or Lady Lisa.
That is one theory as to who the woman in the painting is. Another theory is that she is Leonardo Da Vinci and that the painting is a self portrait. Popular as this theory is among some people, there is no evidence to back it up. Another theory is that the painting is of Isabella of Aragona. Isabella married the Duke of Milan, who died after falling off of his horse. Some believe that after the death of her husband, Isabella married Leonardo Da Vinci in secret. There is only circumstantial evidence to support this theory.
Beyond the debates about who Mona Lisa is and what we should call the painting, there is further controversies revolving around the picture. There are rumors of Leonardo Da Vinci painting multiple Mona Lisas. Some even depicted the subject in the nude. The Mona Lisa was a major breakthrough for its time and was immediately copied by artists trying to learn Leonardo’s technique. For this reason, there are various versions of the Mona Lisa almost as old as the original, floating around. Some claim to be Leonardo’s own work, but only the painting we know as the Mona Lisa is recognized as being Da Vinci’s.
Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa inspired so many imitations from its unveiling because it revolutionized portrait painting. First, the woman is depicted from the waist up, not from the shoulders up as was typical for the time. Second, the landscape behind her is a detailed landscape that is as thought out and well executed as the woman. Again, this was not the norm for the time.
The most important reason why the Mona Lisa caused such a sensation was Da Vinci’s use of sfumato. Sfumato is the blending of shadow to create realism. Nowhere on the Mona Lisa can you find a border or hard edge. Da Vinci invented a new technique for painting that created strikingly realistic figures. This is why the Mona Lisa is famous. Before her, paintings were two dimensional, flat representations of people. But the Mona Lisa, she could almost wink at you.
Since her unveiling, the Mona Lisa has inspired admirers and critics. This love/hate relationship that the art world has with her has led to an even greater celebrity. At the beginning of the 20th century, the painting was actually stolen and Pablo Picasso was interrogated as a suspect. In the middle part of that century, vandals doused the Mona Lisa with acid and threw a rock at her. Later, she was sent on a global exhibition where the lines were so long that, in Japan, viewers were given no more than two seconds to stand before her before being ushered on.
The Mona Lisa is a cultural icon, a watermark in the Western Civilization. She reveals to us as much about artistry as she does about the cult of celebrity that engulfs us all. Love her or hate her, you cannot deny her. She is real, much more than a cold and lonely, lovely work of art.
