The painting of the Mona Lisa is one of the most famous portraits in the history of art, housed in the Louvre. Painted in the 16th century by Leonardo da Vinci, it entered the collections of the Court of France before being transferred to the works on display at the Louvre Museum.
A painting in the bags of Leonardo da Vinci
It is also said that the painting of the Mona Lisa was a work which Leonardo da Vinci brought with him to France at the invitation of King Francis I. A female portrait of the Italian artist and scientist was listed in the history books when he stayed at Clos Lucé Castle (also known as the Manoir du Cloux) near Amboise's Loire Château.
Leonardo da Vinci During the reign of Louis XIV, Mona Lisa then belonged to the royal collections and was exhibited at the Palace of Versailles. Where is the Mona Lisa? Since 1797, it can only be answered at the Louvre Museum.
Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa : an enduring appeal
The painting's composition technique makes it one of the most studied works in the history of art and by artists' apprentices. It is highly regarded as a portrait that could be drawn now because of its new framing. More subtlely, the placement of the young woman's eyes and her mysterious grin produce optical effects. Some people claim that, no matter where they stand, they feel watched by the Mona Lisa. This anecdote illustrates the scientific and anatomical expertise of Leonardo da Vinci. As for the famous smile of the Mona Lisa, witness accounts claim that while the painter worked to preserve this happy mood, a group of musicians played.
A textbook case is also the history. To produce perspective that merges gently, the sfumato technique is used.
Constructing the legend of the Mona Lisa painting
The mystery of the Mona Lisa is certainly what has made it so famous. But is it Lisa who is portrayed, actually? The person who commissioned Leonardo da Vinci for the painting is said to have been a nobleman living in Florence. Francesco del Giocondo was twice widowed and married a young woman named Lisa in 1495. It is this tale that gave its name to the little drawing, measuring 30 inches x 21 inches. Another hypothesis is that the young woman in the picture is none other than the mistress of the king of the Republic of Florence, Giuliano de 'Medici. Never has the mystery been solved.
When it was famously stolen in 1911, the Mona Lisa became popular with the general public. The press jumped on the event: people wanted to know who was able to steal the painting of the Mona Lisa, why, and above all how. The painting was discovered, and the culprit was Vincenzo Peruggia, an excessively nationalistic Italian, who had wanted to return the work to his home country.
The Mona Lisa in popular culture
The Mona Lisa portrait was used by Marcel Duchamp in 1919 as the basis for his own version. He wrote the "LHOOQ" letters along the bottom, as in English "look," but it makes a bawdy joke when each letter is read out loud in French. The novel by Dan Brown sold more than 80 million copies in 2003 and gave the Mona Lisa a new dimension. In the Da Vinci Code, the international mystery bestseller, she is the subject of one of the mysteries.
