Nowadays, we are all well aware about the world's most famous painting of Mona lisa. But we all do not know the reason for its popularity and who is Mona lisa. Also some don't know the artist of this painting. The smile of Mona Lisa might be the reason why this painting and how its smile got that much popularity.
History of Painting:
This painting was made in 1503 by an italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. He was an amazing man because he is not only a painter but an engineer, scientist, architecture, theorist and sculptor. He has knowledge of many other subjects. He made famous painting of Mona lisa but many question arises about the identity of this woman.
Vasari Theory:
In 1550,an Italian artist Giorgi Vasari wrote the autobiography of Lenardo da Vinci. According to him, this woman Lisa Gherardini got married to a silk trader of Florence city whose name was Francesco Giocondo. He said Francesco customized this painting for his wife. Here it got the name of Mona Lisa derived from 'Madonna Lisa' traditionally in Italian language 'Madonna' means 'Madam', so its meaning becomes Madam Lisa. After this it was converted to modern form 'Monna' and when it was written in English one 'N' dropped and it became 'Mona'. After marriage her name was La Giocondo in which 'Giocondo' means in Italian is 'light-hearted', so according to her smile the second name of the painting is La Gioconda. In French, Giocondo writes as Joconde, that's why in the Louvre Museum of Paris this painting is displayed with the name of La Joconde.
Other Theories:
After Vasari theory many theories arises because people didn't believe. Some people said, she was the mother of Lenardo de Vinci. Some said, she was queen in italian aristocracy. One of the theories was 'this painting was not of any woman, this was the self assumption of Leonardo da vinci that if he was a woman', this theory was presented by Lilian Schwartz in 1987. She also used digital tools to show the similarities.
Pallanti Theory:
A professor of Florence named Gluseppe Pallanti, researched for 25 years on the painting and in 2004, he discovered clear evidence that this woman's family has close relation with Vinci's family but she was not the mother of De Vinci. Because Lisa got married in 1495 when she was 16 years old and when painting was made she was 24 years old. He also said due to close relations between Lisa's husband and Vinci's father this painting might have been commissioned by Vinci's father.
Journey to France:
In 1516, Lenardo was invited by the King of France. He spent 15 years on this painting and according to some research he was continuing working when he died in 1519 while living in the Palace of King. After his death, King kept this painting for his Royal collection. In 1797, during the French revolution this painting was brought out of the Palace and kept in the Museum.
Unique Qualities:
This painting was not made on paper or canvas but on Poplar wood that was the favourite wood of that time artists. Secondly this was not in a much bigger size, it is only 77 cm by 53cm. But it was the first painting that was very closely related to humans, like a short-length portrait common nowadays in photos. It has very dull colors and the skin of Lisa was that much yellow even at a time a professor declared her a patient of cholesterol. This is because it was covered with a varnish layer so humidity didn't affect it and secondly, over bleaching is seen on it. It was much brighter when mad. Da Vinci used Sfumato technique in this painting that does not clear boundaries seen in it. This was also a reason for Mona Lisa's mysterious smile, that if we focus on her smile it seems like she was not smiling but if we look anywhere else it looks like she is smiling. For creating this type of smile Da Vinci dissected cardever to see the muscle behind the smile. He wrote in one of his books that "The muscles which move the lips are more numerous in man than in other animals". He also dissected the horses and wrote in his book "Notice whether the muscle that raises nostrils of the horses is the same as that which lies in man". Obsession for her smile made him study optics and he used light divergence method in painting this was the reason when you focus on smile it seems like she was not smiling.
Second Mona Lisa:
In 1504, Raphael made the same painting of Mona Lisa but it was a rough sketch. Researchers thought he made the painting by seeing the original one but this was disproved in 1993 and Pallanti who researched for 25 years confirmed that Raphael lived near the house of Giocondo's house. But it was unbelievable to make the same portrait in the same pose, so there might be another painting of Mona Lisa. In 1914, this second painting came by John R.Eyer. But this is bigger in size and somehow different from other ones. The woman in this painting was younger, so according to some researchers this was the first experiment of Da Vinci before the other painting.
Stolen Painting:
In 1911, Vinchenzo, an Italian nationalist planned with his two companions to steal this painting from the museum. Because he believed that it was made in Italy, so why is it in France? So he planned to bring it back. Vinchenzo was actually the employee in the museum. One day, he hid in the corner and spent the night there, came out in the morning with stolen painting. He kept this painting for 2 years in his house because detectives were in search of it. After 2 years, he decided to sell this painting so he went to an art dealer of florence. But this art dealer recognized the painting and Vinchenzo was arrested. He was punished for 6 months. Then this painting was brought back to the museum and now it is present in the museum under bullet proof glass with strict climate control. After this theft this painting got so popular that its price is in the billions now a day.
No comments:
Post a Comment