INSIDE MONA LISA (PART-I)

European history has eye-witnessed the peak of excellence in the creation of Renaissance art like painting, sculpting and decorative arts during the period in about 1400, in parallel with developments that occurred in philosophy, literature, music, science and technology. The Renaissance art has seen its excellence in most of the European countries like Italy, Germany, France, Netherland, Britain and in many other European countries. But the most development in the renaissance artistic creation has seen these three countries, Italy, France and Germany and among them the the most is Italy. Some examples of the Renaissance artists are Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Giorgio Vasari from Italy; Jean Goujon, Jean Fouquet from France; Hans Dürer, Albrecht Dürer from Germany. There have been creation of various masterpieces which even today the modern world continues to praise and will continue to do so in later future. Among those masterpieces, Leonardo’s portrait of Mona Lisa had revolutionized the art of portrait-making. Appreciation for the artistic wonders of the painting               increased over time. In this case, it took more than 300 years for the painting to begin receiving the recognition it deserved. And there’s nothing wrong with a little infamy in order to gain the mass appreciation for a work of art, right? In this article you would not come to know about the painting but also about all the various secrets that has mysterised the whole world and the various scientific tests related to this painting.                                                                                                                                                                           

            Mona Lisa was considered to be the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, by the famous scholars. Lisa was the wife of the Italian nobleman and rich merchant, Francesco del Giocondo. She was the member of Gheradini family of Florence and Tuscany. The portrait was commissioned by her husband. Leonardo’s world famous portrait of Mona Lisa was considered to be the archeptyl masterpiece of Italian renaissance, a living portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. It was a half-length portrait.

          The portraiture was painted by Vinci on Lombardy Paplar panel, species of cottonwood poplar. It is the sort of species of the group Aigeiros of the genus Populus, native to Europe, Southwest and Central Asia, and Northwest Africa. The scientific name of the Lombardy Paplar panel used by Leonardo is Populus Nigra. This painting was painted by Vinci between 1503 and 1506 though left unfinished in his studio in Florence. Leonardo spent last few years before his death, in the court of French King Francis I, who acquired the work after artist’s death, and it became part of royal collection. For centuries, portrait was secluded in French Palace. Then during the French Revolution, it was considered to be a property of the people. For a time period, this world famous portrait of Mona Lisa used to hang in the bedroom of Napoleon Bonaparte in Tuileries, now which is in Louvre Museum since 1797 in Paris.
           THEFT

Louvre employee Vicenzo Peruggia, was the main person who stolen it. According to the Peruggia’s interrogation after his arrest, he entered the museum on Monday, August 21 around 7 am through which other workers used to enter. He said he wore one of the white smocks that museum employees customarily wore and was indistinguishable from the other workers. When

the Salon Carré, where Mona Lisa was hung was empty, he lifted the painting along with the protective case. Then he went to nearby service staircase and removed the protectiv
e case and took the painting away along with him by wrapping the portrait with the smock which he was wearing.

He kept the portrait in his apartment for two years. He grew impatient and attempted to sell the portrait to Giovanni Poggi, director of Uffizi Gallery in Florence. He was arrested and was jailed for 6 months. Peruggia even told that he had stolen the portrait in order to return it to Italian government because it was painted by an Italian artist, Leonardo da Vinci. Italian government even hailed him for his patriotism for Italy. He was considered to be as the greatest art thief of 20^th century.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PORTRAIT

Mona Lisa is considered to be strongly resembling with many Renaissance depictions including Virgin Mary, who was considered to be as an ideal womanhood. Leonardo had drawn Mona Lisa sat markedly upright in a “pozzetto” armchair with arms folded along with the wrist of right hand over the wrist of left hand. Her mysterious gaze towards the observer made the painting look alive. It was found that the posture can be traced back to Flemish models and the presence of the two vertical columns on both sides of the sitter precede from Flemish portraiture (Portraiture is the art where portrait of various persons are drawn in which the face of the person and the expression predominates and the mood, feeling is expressed from the portrait).                 Leonardo was considered to be the first painter using arial perspective with an imaginary background drawn behind the sitter, with dark columns on both side. The painter imagined the sitter to be in a massive loggia sitting, staring to the observer. There is no clear visibility of eyebrows or eyelashes. Researchers found out that genteel (i.e., high-class or refined) woman used to pluck their eyebrows as a sign of their high class and status.

                VERSIONS OF MONA LISA

               There are various versions of Mona Lisa that has been drawn over centuries by various artists. Many of them were identical to that of Leonardo’s original Earlier Mona Lisa and Louvre Mona Lisa (both earlier Mona Lisa and Louvre Mona Lisa has been drawn by Leonardo). Some of these versions are:  

·  EARLIER MONA LISA

·   LOUVRE MONA LISA

·   OSLO MONA LISA

·    PRADO MONA LISA

·    FLEMISH MONA LISA

·    REYNOLD’S MONA LISA

(these versions are the pictures alongside)

Among these paintings, Leonardo’s original painting was Earlier Mona Lisa and his copy was of the Louvre painting. Specialists from the Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France, found that Vinci painted 30 layers of paint on his works to get the dreamy quality. The layers are less than 40 micrometers or about half the thickness of a human hair, according to Philippe Walter. The technique of drawing known as “sfumato” which gave the outlines and background as hazy colors.

                All the versions of Mona Lisa was the copied form of the Earlier Mona Lisa, the original portraiture drawn by Vinci. All these copies were drawn in 16^th century either by any of Vinci’s talented students or any other portrait artist.

                From Oslo Mona Lisa, to Flemish Mona Lisa, Walter Mona Lisa all were proved by the scientists to be based on the ‘Earlier Mona Lisa’. This was proved from various clues ranging from physical examinations like the background details like the low rolling hills, open sky, cluster of trees to the column of loggia to the scientific examinations like infrared to multispectral rays. The difference between these pictures with Earlier Mona Lisa was that in shadings of the background and the visibility and prominency of the columns on the both sides of Mona Lisa and even the material used in different of the portraits.

                But there was a main confusion between the Earlier Mona Lisa and Louvre Mona Lisa, which one would be the original Lisa of Leonardo and which one was the copy of the original. As in 16^th century, it was quite common practice that artists used to draw copy of their diagram and the same was did by Leonardo for his drawings and Mona Lisa didn’t went to become exceptional. But, which one to be the original one, EARLIER MONA LISA or LOUVRE MONA LISA?

Signing off till next part published.
Thank you,
BYE