The history of the Mona Lisa painting excites more than one human generation. Leonardo da Vinci began work on his immortal masterpiece around 1503. The artist painted a portrait of the wife of a wealthy Florentine named Francesco Giocondo. The girl's name was Mona Lisa. The second name of the canvas - "Gioconda" - is somehow closer to a wide audience.
Already contemporaries of the master appreciated the portrait to the highest degree. The popularity of the image was so huge that later on legends were composed and various theories were put forward.
How does she look
What does Mona Lisa look like? The description is as follows: the immortal creation has dimensions of 77 by 53 cm. The picture is painted in oil on a board from poplar. It depicts a woman who is sitting in an armchair. It is located against the backdrop of the landscape. In her portrait, the viewer is attracted by her appearance - her unusual look, as if constantly watching the contemplator, which radiates reason and will. But an even greater mystery is the world-famous smile of the Mona Lisa. It is barely perceptible, and its meaning seems to elude the person who is considering the picture. It is this elusiveness that introduces into the image something that gives rise to the desire to peer into it again and again.
In world art there are very few portraits that can be compared with the “Mona Lisa” by the force of expression of human individuality, transmitted in the unity of intellect and mores. Where the painting "Mona Lisa" is located, the spirit of mystery and mystery hovers. The famous portrait of da Vinci differs from all other captured images of the quattrocento period with an unusual intellectual charge.
From "Gioconda" comes a sense of strength, which is an organic combination of a sense of personal freedom and inner self-determination. A woman's smile in no way betrays neglect or superiority. She is perceived as the result of complete self-control and calm self-confidence.
World fame
“Mona Lisa” (original) would have been known for a long time only to a sophisticated and sophisticated connoisseur of fine art, if it had not happened for her one amazing story, which brought the canvas world-famous popularity.
From the very beginning of the 16th century, the masterpiece was kept in the royal collection. He got here thanks to Francis I, who bought it after the death of Leonardo. In 1793, the image was placed in the Louvre. Most people know this museum as the place where the Mona Lisa painting is located. But this is not about that.
So, the “Mona Lisa” became a masterpiece of national importance and was constantly located only in the Louvre. In 1911 (August 21), an employee of the Vincenzo Perugia Museum, a master of mirrors from Italy, stole a portrait. Definitely no one was able to find out the true purpose of the crime. Maybe Vincenzo intended to return the canvas to his historical homeland. Two years later, a painting was found in Italy. Perugia himself helped to find the image: he responded to a newspaper ad and decided to sell Mona Lisa. In early January 1914, the Mona Lisa returned to the Louvre.
Mystery of personality
It is difficult to identify the person depicted on the canvas. There are many controversial hypotheses about this. Researchers disagree. Adherents of various theories make the following statements regarding the personality of Mona Lisa: some of them are sure that this is Isabella from Este. The second - that in the picture a young man in a woman’s clothes. Still others are prone to being the wife of a noble Florentine del Giocondo. They also say that this is an ordinary ideal girl, or da Vinci's own self-portrait.
The mystery of "Mona Lisa" remains unknown today. In 1517, the great master was visited by Cardinal Louis of Aragon. Monsignor's secretary described this meeting. He recorded that Leonardo da Vinci showed Louis his three paintings. One depicted a Florentine lady who was written from nature at the request of Giuliano Medici. The second featured the face of young John the Baptist. And the third canvas turned out to be a portrait of St. Anne and Mary with the newborn Jesus.
Some historians claim that the Mona Lisa was the Florentine lady. But maybe it was also some other portrait from which there are no copies and there is not even evidence of him. Therefore, the Medici could have nothing to do with Mona Lisa.
How to find a picture
Where is the painting "Mona Lisa", known to all the inhabitants of our planet. She is saved in the Louvre. Each of the museum signs leads precisely to this canvas. Japanese television in the royal palace bought a whole hall for a portrait. And the image itself is covered with thick armor. Near the portrait there is always a pair of security guards, an uncountable number of visitors rushing here. “Gioconda” you can see only in the Louvre, and nowhere else. In the middle of the last century, a masterpiece was twice taken out of the museum, but the leadership of the institution decided to never transport the Mona Lisa again. That part of the Louvre, which is called Denon (Denon), the seventh painting hall of Italy, boasts that on its wall hangs the face of the most famous woman in art history.
Shades and shadows
Scientists of the whole planet cannot calm down, trying to unravel the secrets of the portrait of Mona Lisa (the museum where he is located is indicated above). A few years ago, they resorted to using x-rays in order to understand how the master created shadows on his canvas. Philip Walter and his colleagues studied seven paintings by da Vinci, among which was the Mona Lisa. X-rays make it possible to study the portrait without damaging the layers of paint.
In the course of research, it was found that Leonardo used the popular “sfumato” technique in his time. She made possible soft transitions of color or shades on the canvas.
Walter's most shocking discovery was that it was impossible to see a single fingerprint or smear in the picture. Everything was done just perfectly, and therefore to analyze the "Mona Lisa" is incredibly difficult.
Scientists found that Leonardo had the ability to apply layers whose thickness was only two micrometers, and the total thickness of the step was not more than 30-40 microns.
Invaluable masterpiece
How much is Mona Lisa now? Its price is not determined in banknotes. But the legendary "Gioconda" is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the canvas insured for the largest amount. In 1962, it amounted to one hundred million dollars. But today the Louvre spends this money not on insurance, but on protection. Taking into account the inflation, in 2006 this amount would have been equated to 670 million US dollars. Thus, the image of Mona Lisa is the most expensive portrait on Earth.
Mystery covered in darkness
The Gioconda raises a bunch of questions. One of them is why a woman has no eyebrows. The end of the XV - the beginning of the next century is known for the fact that then the eyebrows were completely removed. So, we can conclude that the lady depicted on the canvas followed all the trends of the style, and therefore her eyebrows were plucked. But an engineer from France, Pascal Cote, claims that there were still eyebrows.
Using an ultramodern scanner, the researcher made a copy of the canvas, on which traces of eyebrows were found. Pascal is sure that these strokes were originally, but subsequently erased.
The reasons for this could be overly zealous intentions to preserve the masterpiece. For five centuries, the canvas was often cleaned, and therefore small elements on it could well have been erased.
The unsuccessful attempt to restore Mona Lisa also names Kote as the “loss” of eyebrows. But it is not clear how, after all, they could completely disappear.
At least one eye
Where is the picture "Mona Lisa" the reader already knows. And, probably, every person wants at least once in his life, from afar, but to see the original that conquered the world. This portrait holds so many secrets and mysteries that it is simply impossible not to try to solve at least one of them. But nobody has yet succeeded. All of them are known only to Leonardo, who took them with him, leaving future generations only riddles and his priceless, immortal masterpiece.