Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa
Secret or Joke?
The Mona Lisa is 16th century oil painting created by the renowned Leonardo da Vinci. The work of art depicts an enigmatic woman gazing at the viewer. There are lots of theories about this painting, some very fantastic, everybody wants to come up with something new.
As far as Art history goes, Based on the mid-sixteenth century biography of Leonardo da Vinci by Giorgio Vasari, many historians believe the painting is a portrait of Madam Lisa Giocondo, wife of a wealthy Florentine. It is from Vasari that the painting received the name Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda in Italian or La Joconde in French. There have been many theories as to who the model was. The most believable recognition is, again, Vasari’s, and it goes back almost to Leonardo’s lifetime.
No theory satisfactorily answers these questions. Some speculate that the Mona Lisa is not a portrait of one woman, but an artful composite of many, Leonardo's idealization of all womanhood. Others suggest it may have been one of da Vinci's young male models in drag, or Leonardo himself in drag. Some even believe that the Mona Lisa is not a portrait at 
all, but instead an invention of Leonardo's extraordinary imagination.
As the years pass by each successive generation have been fascinated by the painting each seeing something different, each discovering something of its own. Now days, by means of countless reproductions, it has become better known than any picture ever painted. As I was searching for the Mona Lisa I came across a website with an article named; The Many Incarnations of the Mona Lisa – From Dali to Bansky. Very funny, here are some of the incarnations:
I wonder if Leonardo da Vinci from wherever he is now is saying, “ keep looking there is a secret” or “ Can you people just let it go, it is just a painting. “ There can be many funny incarnations of the Mona Lisa, or countless reproductions, but I will stick to Giorgio Vasari version until further notice.
Gisela Perez
-The Mona Lisa
James J. Rorimer and Theodore Rousseau
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin , New Series, Vol. 21, No. 6 (Feb., 1963), pp. 223-224
- Laurie Schneider Adams, Art across Time, volume II. McGraw-Hill College.
- The Many Incarnations of the Mona Lisa. http://lunaticadesnuda.blogspot.com/2008/08/many-incarnations-of-mona-lisa.html
The website you found is so interesting! Wow. Having been lucky enough to see the Mona Lisa in the Louve this past May, I can honestly say it still is my favorite painting of all time.
ReplyDeleteI also went to NYC's Discovery Exhibition back last March when they had a lot Da Vinci's works explained and the thought process he had when he created his masterpieces, whether it was art or inventions.
I still to this day believe that he painted it , as his own half portrait and a celebration of not only women, but men and women, humanity as we know it.
Regardless of all the different opinions , one thing I think everyone can agree upon, it still is a mysterious, wonderful masterpiece.