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Revision as of 00:43, 22 January 2009 by Dawizard23mj (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) For other uses, see Mona Lisa (disambiguation).| Mona Lisa | |
|---|---|
| Italian: La Gioconda, French: La Joconde | |
 | |
| Artist | Leonardo da Vinci |
| Year | c. 1503–1506 |
| Type | Oil on poplar |
| Location | Musée du Louvre, Paris |
Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda) is a 16th century portrait painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo da Vinci during the Italian Renaissance. The work is owned by the French government and is on the wall in the Musée du Louvre in Paris, France with the title Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo.
The painting is a half-length portrait and depicts a woman whose expression is often described as enigmatic. The ambiguity of the sitter's expression, the monumentality of the half-figure composition, and the subtle modeling of forms and atmospheric illusionism were novel qualities that have contributed to the painting's continuing fascination. Few other works of art have been subject to as much scrutiny, study, mythologizing and parody.
Background
Main article: Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503 (during the Italian Renaissance) and, according to Vasari, "after he had lingered over it four years, left it unfinished...." He is thought to have continued to work on it for three years after he moved to France and to have finished it shortly before he died in 1519. Leonardo took the painting from Italy to France in 1516 when King François I invited the painter to work at the Clos Lucé near the king's castle in Amboise. Most likely through the heirs of Leonardo's assistant Salai, the king bought the painting for 4,000 écus and kept it at Fontainebleau, where it remained until given to Louis XIV. Louis XIV moved the painting to the Palace of Versailles. After the French Revolution, it was moved to the Louvre. Napoleon I had it moved to his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace; later it was returned to the Louvre. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) it was moved from the Louvre to a hiding place elsewhere in France.
Mona Lisa was not well known until the mid-19th century when artists of the emerging Symbolist movement began to appreciate it, and associated it with their ideas about feminine mystique. Critic Walter Pater, in his 1867 essay on Leonardo, expressed this view by describing the figure in the painting as a kind of mythic embodiment of eternal femininity, who is "older than the rocks among which she sits" and who "has been dead many times and learned the secrets of the grave."
Subject and title
Main article: Lisa del GiocondoMona Lisa is named for Lisa del Giocondo, a member of the Gherardini family of Florence and Tuscany and the wife of wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. The painting was commissioned for their new home and to celebrate the birth of their second son, Andrea.
- ^ "Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo". Louvre. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
- "Image La Joconde". ibiblio. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
- Cohen, Philip (2004-06-23). "Noisy secret of Mona Lisa's". New Scientist. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
- Gombrich, E.H. "The Story of Art". Artchive. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
- Cite error: The named reference
Clarkwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - Chaundy, Bob (2006-09-29). "Faces of the Week". BBC. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
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- "German experts crack the ID of 'Mona Lisa'". MSN. 2008-01-14. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
- "Researchers Identify Model for Mona Lisa". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
- (Farago 1999, p. 123) harv error: no target: CITEREFFarago1999 (help)
