“It is a beauty wrought out from within upon the flesh, the deposit, little cell by cell, of strange thoughts and fantastic reveries and exquisite passions. Set it for a moment beside one of those white Greek goddesses or beautiful women of antiquity, and how would they be troubled by this beauty, into which the soul with all its maladies has passed!”
This description of La Joconde or as most know “Mona Lisa”, is from Walter Pater’s book “The Renaissance” published in 1873.
In 1854 Alfred Dumesnil said that the Mona Lisa’s smile imparted a “treacherous attraction”. A year later, Theophile Gautier wrote of her “mocking lips” and gaze “promising unknown pleasures”. And in 1869 Walter pater described the Mona Lisa as the embodiment of timeless feminine beauty.
Leonardo da Vinci painted it in 1503. For a long time, Mona Lisa' wasn't even the most famous painting in its gallery, let alone in the Louvre.
But the painting was stolen in 1911. You might think it was because of Mona Lisa’s special stature that it was stolen! But on the contrary, it was the theft which was responsible for its rise to fame!
When Italian handyman Vincenzo Peruggia stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911, he never could have guessed her absence would be the very thing that made her the most recognizable painting on the planet. For 2 years the painting was missing. Thousands went to the Louvre just to see empty hooks hanging on the wall. The police even suspected and interrogated one of the most famous artists in the world, Pablo Picasso. Finally, in 1913, the painting was recovered. When Mona Lisa was stolen, she left a masterpiece but she returned something much bigger than art.
Many conspiracy theorists believe that the painting has secret messages and symbols embedded in it.
Most people find Mona Lisa’s smile mysterious. It seems to be smiling yet its eyes are sad.
Leonardo da Vinci applied the sfumato technique, based on the use of glazes to create a ‘smoky’ effect with subtle contours and contrasts. Leonardo captured the sitter turning towards the viewer in a natural movement that brings the painting to life.
But who was MONA LISA?
Some have found the stature of Mona Lisa overtly manly. The fact that she has no hint of bosom has led many people to believe that Mona Lisa was an effeminate man.
Some theorists also believe that Mona Lisa might have been a young and beardless version of Leonardo Da Vinci himself. The painting has amazing similarities with his self-portrait.
Others think that it is Leonardo’s mother – Caterina.
In Dan Brown’s famous book Da Vinci Code, he hypothesizes that Mona Lisa is neither male nor female. It carries a subtle message of androgyny. It is a fusing of both. Amon is the Egyptian god of masculine fertility while Isis is the goddess of fertility whose ancient pictogram was once called L'ISA. Hence -
AMON L'ISA
An anagram of the divine union of male and female. And, he concludes, that this is Da Vinci's little secret, and the reason for Mona Lisa's knowing smile.
However, the most widely believed theory is that it shows Lisa Gherardini, wife of the Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo – hence her Italian name La Gioconda and her French name La Joconde.
Interestingly, the work was not painted on canvas, but on a panel of poplar wood which has warped over the years causing cracks to appear. To prevent further damage, the Mona Lisa has been kept in a temperature and humidity-controlled glass.
Mona Lisa has been a subject of vandalism a lot of times! In 1956, someone doused the lower half of the painting in acid; in the same year, a Bolivian national named Ugo Ungaza Villegas threw a rock at the painting, after which, Mona Lisa was put behind a glass-proof frame. And again in 2009, a Russian woman at the Louvre threw a mug at the painting because she was denied French citizenship. And most recently, a man disguised as an old woman, seated in a wheelchair, visited the Louvre and attacked one of the most famous paintings in the world with… cake. The motive? To raise awareness about climate change, and point out the systemic lack of willpower to take action.
So what is it like, to be MONA LISA?
From 1503, to now 2022, the way Mona Lisa is perceived has evolved over the centuries. The painting has become more than just a masterpiece. The ambiguity of the painting is what makes it special! From a woman to a man, to both, it has become a person holding many secrets, a celebrity derided to attract attention on both personal and world issues, and a subject of constant discussion and deliberation by artists , scientists , theorists, conspiracists and by people like you and me.
- Amishi Garg
Sources-:
https://theswaddle.com/mona-lisa-was-smeared-with-cake-as-a-mark-of-protest/https://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/18/world/europe/mona-lisa-the-theft/index.html https://madeleineemeraldthiele.wordpress.com/2017/01/24/walter-pater-on-leonardos-mona-lisa/
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