Portrait of Mona Lisa (1479-1528), also known as La Gioconda, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo; 1503-06 (150 Kb); Oil on wood, 77 x 53 cm (30 x 20 7/8 in); Musee du Louvre, Paris. This is what the tablet below the world's most famed painting reads to visitors. This figure of a woman, dressed in the Florentine fashion of her day and seated in a visionary, mountainous landscape, is a remarkable instance of the sfumato technique of soft, heavily shaded modeling. The Mona Lisa's enigmatic expression, which seems both alluring and aloof, has given the portrait universal fame. This sixteenth-century portrait painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci during the Renaissance in Florence, Italy is currently owned by the Government of France and is on display at the Musée du Louvre in Paris under the title Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo.
The painting is a half-length portrait and depicts a seated woman (is almost unanimous that she's Lisa del Giocondo) whose facial expression is frequently described as enigmatic. Others believe that the slight smile is an indication that the subject is hiding a secret. 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. Many critics note that Leonardo painted the most famous portrait of all time.
It was year 1503 in which Leonardo da Vinci began painting Mona Lisa.It was completed in four years according to Vasari.French king FrancoiseI invited Leonardo to paint at Clos Luc é near his castle. He carried Mona Lisa along with. King liked “Mona Lisa” a lot and bought it for 4000 écus. He kept this painting in Fontainebleau. Until King Louis XIV moved it, it remained there in Fontainebleau.
French King Louis XIV moved the painting to Palace of Versailles. It was moved to Louvre after the French Revolution. It was personally liked by Napoleon I and he placed it in his bedroom at the Tuileries Palace. Later it was sent to Louvre again.
This Mona Lisa image was not well known until the mid-19 th century. It began getting recognition only after the emergence of Symbolist movement, which incorporated the ideas about the feminine mystique. Critic Walter Peter made serious observations in 1867 about Mona Lisa.He expressed his views 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.
The history of the Mona Lisa is shrouded in mystery. Among the aspects which remain unclear are the exact identity of the sitter, who commissioned the portrait, how long Leonardo worked on the painting, how long he kept it, and how it came to be in the French royal collection.
The portrait may have been painted to mark one of two events - either when Francesco del Giocondo and his wife bought their own house in 1503, or when their second son, Andrea, was born in December 1502 after the death of a daughter in 1499. The delicate dark veil that covers Mona Lisa's hair is sometimes considered a mourning veil. In fact, such veils were commonly worn as a mark of virtue. Her clothing is unremarkable. Neither the yellow sleeves of her gown, nor her pleated gown, nor the scarf delicately draped round her shoulders are signs of aristocratic status.
A new artistic formula
The Mona Lisa is the earliest Italian portrait to focus so closely on the sitter in a half-length portrait. The painting is generous enough in its dimensions to include the arms and hands without them touching the frame. The portrait is painted to a realistic scale in the highly structured space where it has the fullness of volume of a sculpture in the round. The figure is shown in half-length, from the head to the waist, sitting in a chair whose arm is resting on balusters. She is resting her left arm on the arm of the chair, which is placed in front of a loggia, suggested by the parapet behind her and the two fragmentary columns framing the figure and forming a "window" looking out over the landscape. The perfection of this new artistic formula explains its immediate influence on Florentine and Lombard art of the early 16th century. Such aspects of the work as the three-quarter view of a figure against a landscape, the architectural setting, and the hands joined in the foreground were already extant in Flemish portraiture of the second half of the 15th century, particularly in the works of Hans Memling. However, the spacial coherence, the atmospheric illusionism, the monumentality, and the sheer equilibrium of the work were all new. In fact, these aspects were also new to Leonardo's work, as none of his earlier portraits display such controlled majesty.
An emblematic smile
The Mona Lisa's famous smile represents the sitter in the same way that the juniper branches represent Ginevra Benci and the ermine represents Cecilia Gallerani in their portraits, in Washington and Krakow respectively. It is a visual representation of the idea of happiness suggested by the word "gioconda" in Italian. Leonardo made this notion of happiness the central motif of the portrait: it is this notion which makes the work such an ideal. The nature of the landscape also plays a role. The middle distance, on the same level as the sitter's chest, is in warm colors. Men live in this space: there is a winding road and a bridge. This space represents the transition between the space of the sitter and the far distance, where the landscape becomes a wild and uninhabited space of rocks and water which stretches to the horizon, which Leonardo has cleverly drawn at the level of the sitter's eyes.
There are many speculations about the painting's model and landscape. For example, that Leonardo probably painted his model faithfully since her beauty is not seen as one of the women's best beauty, "even when measured by late quattrocento (1400s) or even twenty-first century standards." Some specialists in Chinese 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 due to lack of clear evidence. Despite these arguments, it is known that Leonardo made some sketches before starting the picture.
A fascinating and typically “Leonardesque” composition
As he did in The Virgin of the Rocks, Leonardo set a religious scene in a fantastic landscape and placed an abyss between viewer and figures. The mountainous distance is conveyed by atmospheric perspective with bluish and crystalline highlights and reflects his interest in geology and meteorological phenomena.
The sfumato, Leonardo’s trademark painterly effect, unifies the composition by enveloping the figures and landscape in a diffuse, evanescent and poetic haze. This imbues the highly expressive faces with great gentleness. The work exudes an aura of strangeness which, combined with the subtle expressions and the picture’s unfinished state has given rise to a number of psychoanalytical interpretations since Freud.
The picture decisively influenced subsequent generations of artists, both classically-inspired painters such as Raphael and Solario, and Mannerists such as Andrea del Sarto This painting of Leonardo da Vinci is renowned to whole world for its aesthetic part.It was pyramid style which Leonardo craftily applied for painting Mona Lisa. The folded hands of the lady in the painting form the front corner of the pyramid.Her breast, neck and face glow in same proportion that gently models her hands. The light provides the variety of living surfaces an underlying geometry of spheres and circles.This painting was one of the first portraits to depict the sitter before an imaginary landscape.
History:
1479
Jun 15, 1479 - Via Maggio where Mona Lisa was born Mona Lisa Gherardini was born on 15th June 1479, in Florence, in a small house on the corner between via Sguazza and via . Portrait Of Lisa Gherardini Wife Of Francesco Del Giocondo, PARIS (LALATE) The Mona ...Via Maggio where Mona Lisa was born Mona Lisa Gherardini was born on 15th June 1479, in Florence, in a small house on the corner between via Sguazza and via . Portrait Of Lisa Gherardini Wife Of Francesco Del Giocondo, PARIS (LALATE) The Mona Lisa, of Lisa Gherardini, has now produced new relevations as a result . Friends: Artist Maram M., Livia Drusilla, René Descartes, Pam Mcmaster-Van Loo
1503
1503 - The Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous paintings in the world. Leonardo Da Vinci started work on the painting in 1503. He worked at the portrait for the next four years. The painting has caused much speculation ...The Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous paintings in the world. Leonardo Da Vinci started work on the painting in 1503. He worked at the portrait for the next four years. The painting has caused much speculation about who Mona Lisa really is, as well as questions about her overall expression and her smile.
1542
Jul 15, 1542 - A Mona Lisa exert, Giuseppe Pallanti, recently uncovered her death certificate in a church in Florence, Italy. According to it she died on July 15, 1542 and was buried at Sant'Orsola, currently an area near San Lorenzo basilica. Pallanti , and others like ...A Mona Lisa exert, Giuseppe Pallanti, recently uncovered her death certificate in a church in Florence, Italy. According to it she died on July 15, 1542 and was buried at Sant'Orsola, currently an area near San Lorenzo basilica. Pallanti , and others like him have devoted decades of his life, searching through archives in Florence. He authored the book "Mona Lisa Revealed: The True Identity of Leonardo's Model."
1963
Jan 9, 1963 - WASHINGTON Presi dent Kennedy flew here from Palm Beach yesterday to intro duce the Mona Lisa of Leonardo Da Vinci most famous portrait in the world. The scene was the great west sculpture hall of the National Gallery of Art where the public also will be able to see the Mona Lisa
Theft & Vandalism:
The Mona Lisa painting now hangs in the Musée du Louvre in Paris, France. The painting's increasing fame was further emphasized when it was stolen on August 22, 1911. The next day, Louis Béroud, a painter, walked into the Louvre and went to the Salon Carré where the Mona Lisa had been on display for five years. However, where the Mona Lisa should have stood, he found four iron pegs. Béroud contacted the section head of the guards, who thought the painting was being photographed for marketing purposes. A few hours later, Béroud checked back with the section head of the museum, and it was confirmed that the Mona Lisa was not with the photographers. The Louvre was closed for an entire week to aid in investigation of the theft.
French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who had once called for the Louvre to be "burnt down," came under suspicion; he was arrested and put in jail. Apollinaire tried to implicate his friend Pablo Picasso, who was also brought in for questioning, but both were later exonerated.
At the time, the painting was believed to be lost forever, and it would be two years before the real thief was discovered. Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia stole it by entering the building during regular hours, hiding in a broom closet and walking out with it hidden under his coat after the museum had closed.[25] Peruggia was an Italian patriot who believed Leonardo's painting should be returned to Italy for display in an Italian museum. Peruggia may have also been motivated by a friend who sold copies of the painting, which would skyrocket in value after the theft of the original. After having kept the painting in his apartment for two years, Peruggia grew impatient and was finally caught when he attempted to sell it to the directors of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence; it was exhibited all over Italy and returned to the Louvre in 1913. Peruggia was hailed for his patriotism in Italy and only served six months in jail for the crime.
During World War II, the painting was again removed from the Louvre and taken safely, first to Château d'Amboise, then to the Loc-Dieu Abbey and finally to the Ingres Museum in Montauban. In 1956, the lower part of the painting was severely damaged when a vandal doused the painting with acid.[34] On December 30 of that same year, a young Bolivian named Ugo Ungaza Villegas damaged the painting by throwing a rock at it. This resulted in the loss of a speck of pigment near the left elbow, which was later painted over.
The use of bulletproof glass has shielded the Mona Lisa from more recent attacks. In April 1974, a handicapped woman, upset by the museum's policy for the disabled, sprayed red paint at the painting while it was on display at the Tokyo National Museum.On August 2, 2009, a Russian woman, distraught over being denied French citizenship, threw a terra cotta mug or teacup, purchased at the museum, at the painting in the Louvre; the vessel shattered against the glass enclosure.[37][38] In both cases, the painting was undamaged.
No comments:
Post a Comment