Mona Lisa - An artistic Excellence

Hearing the name Mona Lisa will definitely widen your eyes and your eye brows shoots up with an image of an woman sitting on a wooden chair. Everyone would obviously know it was portrayed by the renowned engineer, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, writer and painter Leonardo da vinci (1452 - 1519).

The sitter for the portrait was presumed to be Lisa Gherardini @ Lisa del Gioconda wife of a wealthy Italian merchant in Florence. Giorgio Vasari was the one who baptized the portrait as Mona Lisa (My Lady/Madam Lisa) in his biography on Leonardo Da vinci. The works of the legendry Leonardo were known to the world are mostly through the excerpts of this biography on Leonardo Da vinci published in 1550.


Mona Lisa portrait was painted in oil on a poplar(a kind of wooden plant, habitant in Northern Hemisphere) panel during the Renaissance in Florence, Italy.

The Beauty
The eyes have the lustrous brightness and moisture which is seen in life, and around them are those pale, red, and slightly livid circles, also proper to nature, the nose, with its beautiful and delicately roseate nostrils, might be easily believed to be alive; the mouth, admirable in its outline, has the lips uniting the rose-tints of their colour with that of the face, in the utmost perfection, and the carnation of the cheek does not appear to be painted, but truly of flesh and blood: he who looks earnestly at the pit of the throat cannot but believe that he sees the beating of the pulses, and it may be truly said that this work is painted in a manner well calculated to make the boldest master tremble, and astonishes all who behold it. Mona Lisa was exceedingly beautiful, and while Leonardo was painting her portrait, he took the precaution of keeping someone constantly near her, to sing or play on instruments, or to jest and otherwise amuse her, to the end that she might continue cheerful, and so that her face might not exhibit the melancholy expression often imparted by painters to the likenesses they take. In this portrait of Leonardo’s, on the contrary, there is so pleasing an expression, and a smile so sweet, that while looking at it one thinks it rather divine than human, and it has ever been esteemed a wonderful work, since life itself could exhibit no other appearance.

Look at the way she rests her hands, So casual. Its been said that Leonardo has changed the position of the left fingers than decided earlier.

The Emblem of Visconti on a House

Another speculation says depicting the emblems of the kingdom on the portraits are more common at that time. The emblems found on her green gown that identify her as a member of the famous Milanese dynasty. The chain of interlinked circles constitutes an emblem of the Sforza, while the intricate ribbons and bows were emblem of the Visconti and this shows the close relation between the two royal families under Milanese dynasty.

It was the first at that time to portray someone in an aerial perspective. The minute details of the background nature brings more eagerness on the artist’s perception. There are icy mountains, a civilized valley, a bridge at the right background and landscapes surrounding.

The Enigmatic Smile
The smile is the core attraction of the portrait. Leonardo has used sfumato technique to portray this. A smoky type, adding brightness to the dark areas and blocking some of the bright to achieve a vanishing smile. To attain this he has added upto 40 layers of extremely thin glaze. Even today, Leonardo's realisation of such thin layers still remains an amazing feat.When u look at her eyes she smiles and when u focus on her lips the smile vanishes a bit. Astonishing, isn’t it.? It could have taken years to achieve the skin tone. Yes, It took four years (1503-1507) to finish this master piece. Atleast once in our life time have to witness this incredible beauty. Despite its artistic excellence, it has become so famous owing to the enigmatic smile that it bears and the infamous robbery of the portrait in 1911.

The new findings under modern scrutinizating equipments found that at few areas there are no instances of brush, he might have used his fingers to attain the desired effects even he is more concerned about the lighting on the picture, giving more light to the fore arm and to the divine face.

There are many theories stating that the sitter might not be Lisa Gherardini but Isabella of Aragon a member of Sforza family, and the another says it could be a disguised portray of himself as a female which is more common at that time. The modern research claims that the resemblance of facial details of Leonardo and the portrait are almost same.

The Pagan God
And to no one’s surprise it also could be the portrait of the pagan god. He is a firm believer and follower of paganism(worships female God contradicting Christianity). Why not, the divine look and liveliness of the portrait might be the depiction of the their god itself. The hypothesis of considering the right side of the human as a man and left as woman is not only common in the Hinduism but pertains to Leonardo period also. As per Dan Brown’s Theory the artist has took an axis in such a way that the left side of the face dominating the other showing the majestic of women over the men.

 Whomever it is, No one could deter from the fact that its one of the very few existing ancient masterpieces and the technique the artist has handled, the skin tones and lights achieved had left the greats awestruck.

Thanks to the saviours of this master piece as it has survived after being in several other hands of kings, art lovers and it has been vandalized a few times and now it is in a highly secured triplex bullet proof glass with a built in air conditioner in the Lourve museum, Paris and will live centuries for the upcoming generations to learn and wonder at the creator. Its worth is unpredictable and hence left uninsured.

Coutesy: The Lourve Museum, Paris
Ref: www.louvre.fr