Leonardo da Vinci. The Mona Lisa Mystery That Little is Talked About
An archaeological expedition led by Silvano Vincheti, head of the National Committee for the Development of Historical and Cultural Heritage, discovered a burial in the abandoned monastery of St. Ursula in Flerence a couple of days ago. There were two female skeletons, one of which, according to archaeologists, is directly related to the Gioconda depicted in the portrait of Leonardo da Vinci.
Since April, scientists have found the remains of five people in the crypt, but they definitely did not belong to Mona Lisa. One of the newly found skeletons was preserved quite well, and only fragments remained of the second. But the main thing is that the skulls are in excellent condition, which means that scientists have a great chance of reconstructing people's faces from them.
Vincheti: “We are almost certain that all the remains we have found are from the 16th century. We found in the archives that these are the crypts of the Franciscan monks, and in fact the daughter of Lisa Gherardini del Gioconda was a nun of this particular order. Therefore, her mother, whom everyone calls Monai Lisa, was allowed to be buried here. It was a great honor." “If everything goes as planned, then we will be able to restore her face, this is possible with modern technology.”
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1. Lisa del Giocondo (June 15, 1479 - July 15, 1542), also known as Lisa Gherardini, Gioconda and Mona Lisa - a noble Florentine, depicted in the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci. She was born in Florence to a noble family. Early married to a cloth merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo, gave birth to six children. Like many other Florentines, Francesco was an art connoisseur and patron of artists. The generally accepted version says that the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo was painted by Leonardo. It may have been commissioned by the artist by her husband, probably to mark the birth of a son and the purchase of a house.
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September 19, 1478 Leonardo da Vinci completed one of his most important works - "Mona Lisa" (aka "La Gioconda"). The painting has become a landmark not only for the author, but also the most famous portrait in history, as well as the most mysterious creation in the visual arts. There are much more myths about this picture than facts, but the facts are very fascinating. We have collected 10 most interesting facts about the Mona Lisa.
1. The full name of the painting is “Portrait of Mrs. Lisa del Giocondo.” In Italian, ma donna means "my mistress", in an abbreviated version, this expression was transformed into monna or mona.
2. Many scientists believe that Da Vinci depicted his self-portrait in the picture.
3. The artist left neither his signature, nor the date, nor the name of the model. There is no entry about the painting in his diaries. In general, not a single mention and connection of the author with the work.
Experts say that earlier versions are much lighter and brighter than modern ones.
4. In the course of detailed research, it was found that three versions of the painting, written at different times, were applied to the canvas. Obviously, the artist sought to bring his creation to perfection. Experts say that earlier versions are much lighter and brighter than modern ones.
5. The landscape painted behind the Gioconda is fictitious. After all, it is known that Leonardo painted the picture in his Milan workshop.
6. According to researchers, the model's famous smile is an optical illusion. If you look into the eyes of Mona Lisa, the shadows give the impression of a smile. But as soon as you lower your gaze, the smile disappears.
7. Mona Lisa doesn't have eyebrows. Researchers have proven that once they were, but disappeared. Perhaps they were erased by Da Vinci himself, but never painted again. By the way, in the Middle Ages it was fashionable to pluck your eyebrows completely.
8. The work is priceless. An attempt to sell it would bring in a billion dollars, but it is still difficult to estimate its exact value.
In 1911, the painting was stolen by an employee of the Louvre.
9. The first "exhibition gallery" for the "Mona Lisa" was a bath. The King of France, Francis I, bought the painting from da Vinci for huge money at that time - 4,000 gold coins - and placed it in a bathhouse in Fontainebleau, a place where he held meetings with confidants and ambassadors, and also arranged his romantic dates.
10. In 1911, the painting was stolen by an employee of the Louvre. Pablo Picasso was the prime suspect. All police searches were unsuccessful. The picture was found two years later - the thief responded to the newspaper ad of the director of the art gallery, and in 1914 the Gioconda returned to the Louvre.
The Mona Lisa by the great Leonardo da Vinci, also known as the Gioconda, is one of the most mysterious works in the history of art. For several centuries now, disputes have not subsided about who is actually depicted in the portrait. According to various versions, this is the wife of a Florentine merchant, a transvestite in women's clothing, the artist's mother, and finally, the artist himself, disguised as a woman ... But this is only part of the secrets associated with the picture.
"Mona Lisa" is not "La Gioconda"?
It is believed that the painting was painted around 1503-1505. The model for her, according to the official version, was a contemporary of the great painter, nee Lisa di Antonio Maria di Noldo Gherardini, whose portrait was allegedly ordered by her husband, the Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. The full name of the canvas is “Ritratto di Monna Lisa del Giocondo” - “Portrait of Mrs. Lisa Giocondo”. Gioconda (la Gioconda) also means "cheerful, playing." So maybe it's a nickname, not a surname.
However, there are rumors in the art history community that the famous “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci and his “La Gioconda” are two completely different paintings.
The fact is that none of the contemporaries of the great painter saw the portrait completed. Giorgio Vasari, in his book Lives of Artists, claims that Leonardo worked on the painting for four years, but never had time to finish it. However, the portrait now exhibited in the Louvre is fully completed.
Another artist, Raphael, testifies that he saw the La Gioconda in the da Vinci workshop. He sketched a portrait. On it, the model poses between two Greek columns. There are no columns in the well-known portrait. Judging by the sources, the Gioconda was also larger than the original Mona Lisa known to us. In addition, there is evidence that the unfinished canvas was handed over to the customer - the husband of the model, the Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Then it was inherited from generation to generation.
The portrait, called "Mona Lisa", allegedly depicts the favorite of Duke Giuliano de' Medici, Constance d'Avalos. In 1516, the artist brought this painting with him to France. Until the very death of da Vinci, the painting was in his estate near Amboise. In 1517, she found herself in the collection of the French king Francis I. It is she who can now be seen in the Louvre.
In 1914, a British antiquary for just a few guineas bought an image of the Mona Lisa at the clothing market in Bass, which he considered a successful copy of Leonardo's creation. Subsequently, this portrait became known as the "Iuor Mona Lisa". It looks unfinished, in the background there are two Greek columns, as in the memoirs of Raphael.
Then the canvas came to London, where in 1962 it was bought by a syndicate of Swiss bankers.
Is there such a resemblance between two different women that they were confused? Or is there only one painting, and the second is just a copy made by an unknown artist?
hidden image
By the way, French expert Pascal Cotte recently announced that another image, the real Lisa Gherardini, is hiding under a layer of paint in the picture. He came to this conclusion after spending ten years studying the portrait using a technology he developed based on the reflection of light rays.
According to the scientist, it was possible to "recognize" the second portrait under the "Mona Lisa". It also depicts a woman sitting in exactly the same position as Gioconda, however, unlike the latter, she looks a little to the side and does not smile.
fatal smile
And the famous Mona Lisa smile? What only hypotheses were not put forward about it! It seems to some that Gioconda does not smile at all, to someone that she has no teeth, and to someone something ominous seems to be in her smile ...
Back in the 19th century, the French writer Stendhal noted that after admiring the painting for a long time, he experienced an inexplicable breakdown ... Louvre workers, where the canvas now hangs, say that viewers often faint in front of the Mona Lisa. In addition, museum employees noticed that when the public is not allowed into the hall, the picture seems to fade, but as soon as visitors appear, the colors seem to become brighter, and the mysterious smile comes through more clearly ... Parapsychologists explain the phenomenon by the fact that the Gioconda is a picture -vampire, she drinks the life force of a person ... However, this is just an assumption.
Another attempt to unravel the mystery was made by Nitz Zebe from the University of Amsterdam and his American colleagues from the University of Illinois. They used a special computer program that compared the image of a human face with a database of human emotions. The computer produced sensational results: it turns out that extremely mixed feelings are read on the face of Mona Lisa, and among them only 83% of happiness, 9% belong to disgust, 6% to fear and 2% to anger ...
Meanwhile, Italian historians have discovered that if you look at Mona Lisa's eyes under a microscope, some letters and numbers become visible. So, in the right eye you can see the letters LV, which, however, may represent only the initials of the name Leonardo da Vinci. The symbols in the left eye have not yet been recognized: either these are the letters CE, or B ...
In the arch of the bridge, located in the background of the picture, the number 72 “flaunts”, although there are other versions, for example, that it is 2 or the letter L ... The number 149 (the four is erased) is also visible on the canvas. This may indicate the year the painting was created - 1490 or later ...
But be that as it may, the mysterious smile of the Gioconda will forever remain a model of the highest art. After all, the divine Leonardo was able to create something that will excite descendants for many, many centuries…
Plot
This is a portrait of Mrs. Lisa del Giocondo. Her husband, a fabric merchant from Florence, loved his third wife very much, and therefore the portrait was commissioned from Leonardo himself.
The woman is sitting on the balcony. It is believed that initially the picture could have been wider and accommodated two side columns of the loggia, from which two bases of columns remain at the moment.
One of the mysteries is whether Lisa del Giocondo is really depicted on the canvas. There is no doubt that this woman lived at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. However, some researchers believe that Leonardo painted the portrait from several models. Be that as it may, the result was the image of the ideal woman of that era.
There is a version that a man posed for the Gioconda
How can one not recall the story that was common at one time about what the doctors saw in the portrait. Doctors of various specialties analyzed the picture in their own way. And in the end, they “found” so many illnesses in Gioconda that it’s generally incomprehensible how this woman could live.
By the way, there is a hypothesis that the model was not a woman, but a man. This, of course, adds to the mystery of the history of the Mona Lisa. Especially if you compare the picture with another work by da Vinci - "John the Baptist", in which the young man is endowed with the same smile as the Mona Lisa.
"John the Baptist"
The landscape behind the Mona Lisa seems mystical, like the embodiment of dreams. It does not distract our attention, does not allow our eyes to wander. On the contrary, such a landscape makes us completely immerse ourselves in the contemplation of the Mona Lisa.
Context
Da Vinci painted the portrait for several years. Despite the fee paid in full, the Giocondo family never received the order - the artist simply refused to give the canvas. Why is unknown. And when da Vinci left Italy for France, he took the painting with him, where he sold it for a very large sum of money to King Francis I.
Da Vinci did not give the "Mona Lisa" to the customer
Further, the fate of the canvas was not easy. He was either praised or forgotten. But it became a cult at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1911, a scandal erupted. The Italian stole Leonardo's work from the Louvre, although the motivation is still unclear. During the investigation, even Picasso and Apollinaire were under suspicion.
Salvador Dali. Self-portrait as Mona Lisa, 1954
The media staged an orgy: every day, this way and that, it was discussed who the thief was and when the police would find the masterpiece. In terms of sensationalism, only the Titanic could compete.
The secret of the mystery of the "Mona Lisa" - in the way Leonardo used sfumato
Black PR has done its job. The picture became almost an icon, the image of the Mona Lisa was replicated as mysterious and mystical. People with a particularly fine mental organization sometimes could not withstand the forces of the newly appeared cult and went crazy. As a result, adventures awaited the Mona Lisa - from an assassination attempt with acid to an attack with heavy objects.
The fate of the artist
Painter, philosopher, musician, naturalist, engineer. Man is universal. That was Leonardo. Painting was for him an instrument of universal knowledge of the world. And it was thanks to him that painting began to be understood as a free art, and not just a craft.
"Francis I at the death of Leonardo da Vinci". Ingres, 1818
Before him, the figures in the paintings looked more like statues. Leonardo was the first to guess that understatement is needed on the canvas - when the form, as if covered with a veil, in some places seems to dissolve into the shadows. This method is called sfumato. It is to him that the Mona Lisa owes its mystery.
The corners of the lips and eyes are covered with soft shadows. This creates a feeling of understatement, the expression of a smile and a glance elude us. And the longer we look at the canvas, the more we are fascinated by this mystery.
The Mona Lisa painting has always been an amazing creation of Leonardo da Vinci. There are many very interesting stories connected with this work. In this article, we will tell you some informative facts about the Mona Lisa painting.
Mona Lisa painting. Facts that will impress you:
Eyebrows and eyelashes Mona Lisa
In the painting, the Mona Lisa has neither eyelashes nor eyebrows. However, in 2007, a French engineer using a high-resolution camera discovered thin brush strokes in the area of the eyebrows and eyelashes, which disappeared over time, probably as a result of careless restoration or simply faded.
There is another "Mona Lisa"
The Prado Museum in Spain holds a second painting of the Mona Lisa, which was probably painted by one of da Vinci's students. If two Mona Lisa paintings are superimposed, then a 3-D effect appears, which, in fact, makes this painting the first stereoscopic image in history.
Pablo Picasso was suspected..
When the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911, Pablo Picasso was interrogated as a suspect.
Fine work..
Drawing the image of the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci created about 30 layers, many of which are thinner than a human hair.
Relaxed atmosphere
Drawing "Mona Lisa", the artist made sure that the model was in a good mood, and that she was not bored. To this end, six musicians were invited to play specially for the Mona Lisa, and a musical fountain was installed, invented by da Vinci himself.
Various magnificent works were also read aloud and a Persian cat and a greyhound were present, in case the model wanted to play with them.
The picture was not painted on canvas
The Mona Lisa is not painted on canvas, but on three kinds of wood, about an inch and a half thick.
Long 12 years..
Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors, played the viola, and spent 12 years painting Mona Lisa's lips.
Mona Lisa and Napoleon
The Mona Lisa hung in Napoleon's bedroom.
An attempt at cubism
The Swedish designer created a replica of the Mona Lisa from fifty translucent polygons.
Scam of the century..
As you know, in 1911 the painting "Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre. The kidnapping was led by Argentine swindler Eduardo de Valfierno, all in order to sell six fakes to six different collectors around the world. No charges were brought against him, since he was not formally involved in the kidnapping.
I just took it out of the museum..
In 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia (an employee of the Louvre and a mirror maker) wished to return the Mona Lisa back to Italy: after the painting "was captured by Napoleon." Perugia entered the Louvre, removed the painting from the wall, took it to the nearest service staircase, took the canvas out of the frame, put it under a dressing gown and left the museum as if nothing had happened.
Insolent..
In 1956, a Bolivian tourist threw a rock at the Mona Lisa and damaged the painting.
What is the price of the Mona Lisa?
The cost of the painting "Mona Lisa" is estimated at approximately 782 million dollars.
Mona Lisa from toast..
In 1983, Tadahiko Ogawa created a copy of the "Mona Lisa" consisting entirely of t O st.
Saved from the Nazis
During World War II, the Mona Lisa was transported from the Louvre twice. And all so that it does not fall into the hands of the Nazis.
Mona Lisa with mustache
The Mona Lisa with a Mustache is a work by surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp. He called the picture "L.H.O.O.Q." , which means "I have a hot ass" in French.
Mona Lisa painting with mustache
You can love forever..
In 1963, the Mona Lisa was exhibited for a month at the National Gallery of Art. The painting was guarded around the clock by the US Marines and, despite the fact that the time for visiting the gallery was extended, people often stood in line for about two hours in order to get a glimpse of the painting.
The smallest replica of the Mona Lisa
The size of the most microscopic copy of the Mona Lisa is only 30 microns.
self-portrait
There is a version that the portrait of Mona Lisa is actually a self-portrait of da Vinci in women's clothing.
