Analysis of the Mona Lisa
Analysis of the Mona Lisa Painting
Leonardo Da Vinci was born and raised in Italy where the Mona Lisa was ultimately painted started in 1503. The style of the painting has long been cited as the forerunner of numerous styles of art, one of the true masterpieces in the history of world art.
Leonardo Da Vinci : The Mona Lisa - c.1503 - 1506
A Description of Mona Lisa
Painting the Mona Lisa, Leonardo elevated himself into another station of artist, those that create new forms and perspectives. The relatively small painting of Mona Lisa manages to craft one of the most intense and effective art experience into a compact 30” by 20 ½” frame. As for what kind of paint Mona Lisa was originally envisioned with, oils were used on poplar wood panel and have been restored numerous times. In recent years, curators at the Louvre have begun to worry that the painting appears to be breaking down more rapidly than in the past.
Leonardo places his model in the midst of the painting, using a pyramid design to center her. The fold of her hands forms the front of the pyramid and he uses the same glowing light for her breast, neck and face. His lighting is important as he uses it to create many of the geometric shapes – circles and spheres – that compose the painting. The form of the painting itself is very simple, a modification of the Seated Madonna, a form very popular during the 15th and 16th centuries for portraits.
Raphael Sanzio : The Madonna of the Chair - 1514 - 1515
(Buy a hand painted reproduction of Raphael’s The Madonna of the Chair from us)
What Does the Mona Lisa Mean?
He modifies the formula however, creating a sense of distance between the sitter and observer, mostly utilizing the arm chair on which she rests. Everything about her posture speaks reservation and silence. However, her eyes silently meet the gaze of the observer, drawing the viewer into her eye line. Everything surrounding her face is dark, bringing that much more focus to the light of her face and the attraction it provides. The overall effect is a kind of natural attraction to her, drawn in by her appearance, but it immediately contrasts with the distance Leonardo creates between subject and observer.
The landscape of the painting has long been pointed out as the first instance of portrait on landscape. Seated in the midst of an open loggia with what appears to be pillars on either side of her, a vast landscape stretches out towards an icy mountain range. The curves of her hair and clothing are emulated in the waves of the landscape and steady curves in the river and hills behind her. The question has thus arisen as to whether the Mona Lisa is as much a portrait as it is the depiction of an ideal. The harmony between the model and the landscape behind her creates a sort of natural order, all punctuated by the detail of her mouth and that world famous smile.
The Smile
For centuries, historians, psychologists, writers, and politicians have been trying to offer their own theories as to what the smile of Mona Lisa might signify. Freud characterized it as an allusion to an Oedipus complex (he was in love with his mother) in Da Vinci while others have stated that it is a sign of innocence and calm. The question of why the smile is seen in so many different ways has become almost as big of a research subject as the smile itself. There have been scientists who point out the special relations of the smile and how human sight picks up on them. Margaret Livingstone, a professor at Harvard claims that the painting is most effective when viewed peripherally. The smile is more effective when looking at her eyes for example.
Leonardo Da Vinci : The Mona Lisa (detail of smile) - c.1503 - 1506
In 2005 a computer program was used that analyzes facial expressions for emotional recognition to assign “emotional” values to the smile. That program found her to be 83% happy. Regardless of Da Vinci’s intentions, the smile of the Mona Lisa is one of the most enduring questions in all of art.
Mona Lisa Analysis Today
Because of the research and attention the Mona Lisa has drawn, more than a few dozen people have tried their hand at recreating it. Hundreds of copies reside in different art galleries around the world, some of which their owners believe to be the original. Recently, an internet phenomenon has arise in which a clever MS Paint user was able to make a video showing how to make the Mona Lisa on paint, the free graphics program bundled with Windows. Copying the Mona Lisa has long been a standard test of an artist’s tenacity and skill.
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Hi,
Happened upon a brand new explanation of this time worn symbolism. It’s based on those almost visible columns, the androgyne in art, and the hermetic occult which raged in Florence during Leonardo’s day:
http://altreligion.about.com/library/davinci/blmona.htm
It’s called “The Mona Lisa, Freemasonry, and the Sigil of Saturn”
Karen (da Vinci fanatic)
Karen, thanks for your comments and the link. It’s an interesting article, but very flawed.
The author does a “Dan Brown” in that she takes her opinion based on some rough evidence and puts it across as undeniable fact. She may have an interesting point to make but bold sweeping statements just undermine her credibility.
“The positioning between two columns, however, is undeniably the original setting that Leonardo selected on a colonnaded balcony.”
That’s just not true, people THINK she may be between two columns, but considering you can only see a part of two small circular looking “things” it is impossible to say for certain.
As with all things Da Vinci, so much isn’t proven or provable, so it’s best to keep an open mind and take from it what you can.
Hi Admin,
Don’t know the sex of the author (Moonstonejonz), but have seen more than one contemporaneous copy with the columns in plain sight. Also check this:
http://www.gasparcadia.fr/18.html
Thanks,
Karen
Karen,
The Walter’s gallery painting of the Mona Lisa (http://www.aspectart.com/info/da-vincis-paintings/looking-at-a-picture-of-the-mona-lisa) was painted more than 100 years after the original. It simply might be the case that the artist assumed they were columns on the side of the painting and added them in using his own artistic licence. The original painting has not been “cropped” in any way and so never had columns in the painting. For all we can see they could be the base of Roman style vases.
They may well be columns, but as Da Vinci is long dead and there are no clues in his notes, anything surrounding the mystery of the Mona Lisa will always remain as such.
It’s fun and interesting to guess what they might be, but we can’t make claims that something is fact when we have no way of knowing either way.
Thanks Admin,
This has been a neat discussion, and now enough facts are out there so that others can do their own digging and make up their own minds. Sure, those little bumps could be bagels (vases would be quite precarious on that narrow ledge). The question remains, why would a master like Leonardo suggest something so incomplete that we are all now trying to fill it in? What did Leonardo want us to see?
Over and out,
Karen
Greetings all,
Leonardo’s mystery bagels!…I love it!…What a joy to run into on a quiet Saturday.
Thanks, Karen for introducing my madman’s heretical rant to this otherwise super-safe textbook type rundown…yes, I’m a guy…and one who is feeling a bit like Galileo at a church barbeque. All I hope others will do is to think (it’s fun)…no need to accept or engrave in stone.
I agree solidly with you admin. that Leonardo probably didn’t put columns in the Louvre’s masterpiece. He didn’t need to. Hermetic symbolism is for those in the swim ONLY…for those who can interpret a SUGGESTION.
Now, let me make another recklessly bold statement:
Fact: One hundred percent of the artists who chose to interpret Leonardo’s bagels, interpreted them as columns. See my point?
Thanks…and don’t forget to smile, Leonardo would,
Moonstonejonz