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Speculations about Mona Lisa

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Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, Louvre Museum

Speculation about Mona Lisa, or La Gioconda (La Joconde), is a comprehensive issue regarding the 16th-century portrait Mona Lisa painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo da Vinci that is perhaps the most famous painting in the world.

Columns and trimming

Early copy of the Mona Lisa showing the columns, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore

It has for a long time been argued that after Leonardo's death the painting was cut down by having part of the panel at both sides removed. Early copies depict columns on both sides of the figure. Only the edges of the bases can be seen in the original. However, some art historians, such as Martin Kemp, now argue that the painting has not been altered, and that the columns depicted in the copies were added by the copyists. The latter view was bolstered during 2004 and 2005 when an international team of 39 specialists undertook the most thorough scientific examination of the Mona Lisa yet undertaken. Beneath the frame (the current one was fitted to the Mona Lisa in 2004) there was discovered a "reserve" around all four edges of the panel. A reserve is an area of bare wood surrounding the gessoed and painted portion of the panel. That this is a genuine reserve, and not the result of removal of the gesso or paint, is demonstrated by a raised edge still existing around the gesso, the result of build up from the edge of brush strokes at the edge of the gesso area.

The reserve area, which was likely to have been as much as 20 mm originally appears to have been trimmed at some point probably to fit a frame (we know that in the 1906 framing it was the frame itself which was trimmed, not the picture, so it must have been earlier), however at no point has any of Leonardo's actual paint been trimmed. Therefore the columns in early copies must be inventions of those artists, or copies of another (unknown) studio version of Mona Lisa.

Other versions

It has been suggested that Leonardo created more than one version of the painting. The owners of the version known as the Isleworth Mona Lisa claim that it is an original, though the great majority of art historians believe it to be a later copy by an unknown artist. The same claim has been made for a version in the Vernon collection. Another version, dating from c.1616 was given in c. 1790 to Joshua Reynolds by the Duke of Leeds in exchange for a Reynolds self-portrait. Reynolds thought it to be the real painting and the French one a copy, which has now been disproved. It is, however, useful in that it was copied when the original's colors were far brighter than they are now, and so it gives some sense of the original's appearance 'as new'. It is in a private collection, but was exhibited in 2006 at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. There are also copies of the image in which the figure appears nude. These have also led to speculation that they were copied from a lost Leonardo original depicting Lisa naked.

A drawing of the Mona Lisa sometimes claimed to be a cartoon by Leonardo for the painting

Smile

Mona Lisa's smile has repeatedly been a subject of many—greatly varying—interpretations. Some have described the smile as both innocent and inviting. Many researchers have tried to explain why the smile is seen so differently by people. The explanations range from scientific theories about human vision to curious supposition about Mona Lisa's identity and feelings. Professor Margaret Livingstone of Harvard University has argued that the smile is mostly drawn in low spatial frequencies, and so can best be seen from a distance or with one's peripheral vision. Thus, for example, the smile appears more striking when looking at the portrait's eyes than when looking at the mouth itself. Christopher Tyler and Leonid Kontsevich of the Smith-Kettlewell Institute in San Francisco believe that the changing nature of the smile is caused by variable levels of random noise in the human visual system. Dina Goldin, Adjunct Professor at Brown University, has argued that the secret is in the dynamic position of Mona Lisa's facial muscles, where our mind's eye unconsciously extends her smile; the result is an unusual dynamicity to the face that invokes subtle yet strong emotions in the viewer of the painting.

In late 2005, Dutch researchers from the University of Amsterdam ran the painting's image through "emotion recognition" computer software developed in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The technology demonstration found the smile to be 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% fearful, 2% angry, less than 1% neutral, and 0% surprised.

Infrared scan

In 2004 experts from the National Research Council of Canada conducted a three-dimensional infrared scan. Because of the aging of the varnish on the painting it is difficult to discern details. Data from the scan and infrared were used by Bruno Mottin of the French Museums' "Center for Research and Restoration" to argue that the transparent gauze veil worn by the sitter is a guarnello, typically used by women while pregnant or just after giving birth. A similar guarnello was painted by Sandro Botticelli in his Portrait of Smeralda Brandini (c. 1470/1475), depicting a pregnant woman on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Furthermore, this reflectography revealed that Mona Lisa's hair is not loosely hanging down, but seems attached at the back of the head to a bonnet or pinned back into a chignon and covered with a veil, bordered with a sombre rolled hem. In the 16th century, hair hanging loosely down on the shoulders was the customary style of unmarried young women or prostitutes. This apparent contradiction with her status as a married woman has now been resolved.

Researchers also used the data to reveal details about the technique used and to predict that the painting will degrade very little if current conservation techniques are continued. During 2006, Mona Lisa underwent a major scientific observation that proved through infrared cameras she was originally wearing a bonnet and clutching her chair, something that da Vinci decided to change as an afterthought.

Eyebrows and eyelashes

One long-standing mystery of the painting is why Mona Lisa has only very faint eyebrows and apparently does not have any eyelashes. Pascal Cotte, a French engineer and inventor, says he discovered with a high-definition camera that Leonardo da Vinci originally did paint eyebrows and eyelashes, in October 2007. Creating an ultra-high resolution close-up that magnified Mona Lisa's face 24 times, Cotte says he found a single brushstroke of a single hair above the left eye. "One day I say, if I can find only one hair, only one hair of the eyebrow, I will have definitively the proof that originally Leonardo da Vinci had painted eyelash and eyebrow," said Cotte. The engineer claims that other eyebrow hairs that potentially could have appeared on the painting may have faded or been inadvertently erased by a poor attempt to clean the painting. In addition, Cotte says his work uncovered proof that her hands were originally painted in a slightly different position than in the final portrait.

Giorgio Vasari's Lives of Artists describes the painting as having thick eyebrows; however, while this may mean that the eyebrows and lashes were accidentally removed, it could also mean that Vasari did not have first-hand knowledge of the work.

Subject

Various alternatives to the traditional identification of the sitter have been proposed. During the last years of his life, Leonardo spoke of a portrait "of a certain Florentine lady done from life at the request of the magnificent Giuliano de' Medici." No evidence has been found that indicates a link between Lisa del Giocondo and Giuliano de' Medici, but then the comment could instead refer to one of the two other portraits of women executed by Leonardo. A later anonymous statement created confusion when it linked the Mona Lisa to a portrait of Francesco del Giocondo himself, perhaps the origin of the controversial idea that it is the portrait of a man.

Comparison to drawing sometimes identified as Leonardo's self-portrait
Leonardo's self-portrait obtained by stereoscopic observation

The artist Susan Dorothea White has interpreted the masculine proportions of Mona Lisa's cranial architecture in her anatomical artworks Anatomy of a Smile: Mona's Bones (2002) and Mona Masticating (2006). Dr. Lillian F. Schwartz of Bell Labs suggests that the Mona Lisa is actually a self-portrait. She supports this theory with the results of a digital analysis of the facial features of the woman in the painting and those of the famous possible self-portrait drawing by Leonardo. When the drawing is reversed and then merged with an image of the Mona Lisa using a computer, the features of the faces align perfectly. Critics of this theory suggest that the similarities are due to both portraits being painted by the same person using the same style. Additionally, the drawing on which Schwartz based the comparison may not be a self-portrait.

Nicola Vacca in his publication "Mona Lisa and stereoscopy" confirms Lillian Schwartz's theory revealing the self-portrait. In this case no digital analysis was used, but instead simple tools suggested by Leonardo himself in his studies about stereoscopy contained in his Treatise on Painting.

For Sigmund Freud the famous half-smile was a recovered memory of Leonardo's mother. In 1994 Leonardo's biographer Serge Bramly wrote, "there are about a dozen possible identifications of the sitter, all more or less defensible ... Some people have suggested that there was no model at all, that Leonardo was painting an ideal woman."

The background is similar to the background of Leonardo's paintings of the Virgin Mary, which depict the landscape of the Holy Land. Thus, Leonardo glorifies the Mona Lisa as the Virgin Mary.

Isabella of Aragon, Raphael, Doria Pamphilj Gallery

Art historians have also suggested the possibility that the Mona Lisa may only resemble Leonardo by accident: as an artist with a great interest in the human form, Leonardo would have spent a great deal of time studying and drawing the human face, and the face most often accessible to him was his own, making it likely that he would have the most experience with drawing his own features. The similarity in the features of the people depicted in paintings such as the Mona Lisa and St. John the Baptist may thus result from Leonardo's familiarity with his own facial features, causing him to draw other, less familiar faces in a similar light.

Some have seen a facial similarity between the Mona Lisa and other paintings, such as St. John the Baptist.

The art expert Dr. Henry Pulitzer suggested that the portrait was possibly that of Costanza d'Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla, a patroness of Leonardo, and mistress of Giuliano de Medici. D'Avalos, coincidentally, was also nicknamed 'La Gioconda'.

Maike Vogt-Lüerssen argues that the woman behind the famous smile is Isabella of Aragon, the Duchess of Milan. Leonardo was the court painter for the Duke of Milan for 11 years. The pattern on Mona Lisa's dark green dress, Vogt-Lüerssen believes, indicates that she was a member of the house of Sforza. Her theory is that the Mona Lisa was the first official portrait of the new Duchess of Milan, which requires that it was painted in spring or summer 1489 (and not 1503). This theory is allegedly—though not by Vogt-Lüerssen—supported by another portrait of Isabella of Aragon, painted by Raphael, (Doria Pamphilj Gallery, Rome).

In 2004, historian Giuseppe Pallanti published Monna Lisa, Mulier Ingenua (Mona Lisa: Real Woman, published in English under the title Mona Lisa Revealed: The True Identity of Leonardo's Model). The book gathered archival evidence in support of the traditional identification of the model as Lisa. According to Pallanti, the evidence suggests that Leonardo's father was a friend of del Giocondo. "The portrait of Mona Lisa, done when Lisa del Giocondo was aged about 24, was probably commissioned by Leonardo's father himself for his friends as he is known to have done on at least one other occasion." In 2007, genealogist Domenico Savini identified the princesses Natalia and Irina Strozzi as descendants of Lisa del Giocondo. Scan data obtained in 2004 suggested that the painting dated from around 1503 and commemorated the birth of the Giocondo's second son.

In 2011, art historian Silvano Vinceti claimed longtime apprentice (and possible male lover) to Leonardo, Gian Giacomo Caprotti, was the inspiration and figure for the painting.

Notwithstanding the variety of some of the theories, the 2005 findings of Heidelberg University academics confirm the traditional identification of Lisa del Giocondo as the model for the painting. They have found dated notes scribbled into the margins of a book by its owner on October 1503.

In 2011, a grave found at a convent has been speculated to be hers.

Pregnancy

In a National Geographic presentation titled "Testing the Mona Lisa" it was deduced that the figure depicted in the painting might be maternal, or pregnant. It was found that Lisa herself had a haze around her clothing indicative of a guarnello, the attire worn by pregnant women. Another theory proposed was that Leonardo's representation of her hands as slightly 'large' was further indicative of Lisa's pregnancy. Conversely, as many scholars or persons suggest, this representation is merely a stylistic concept of beauty exemplified by numerous Renaissance painters, including Leonardo himself.

High cholesterol

In January 2010, Dr Vito Franco, professor of pathological anatomy at Palermo University, published research in an article in La Stampa newspaper and at a medical conference in Florence which suggested that Mona Lisa showed clear signs of a build-up of fatty acids under the skin, caused by too much cholesterol. Dr Franco also suggested that she shows signs of having a lipoma behind her right eye.

Letters

In December 2010 it was claimed by Silvano Vinceti that the Mona Lisa appears to have tiny numbers and letters in her eyes which are only apparent when viewed with a magnifying glass (LV, CE or B or S); however, the accuracy of this claim is disputed.

References

  1. What Is the Mystery Behind the Mona Lisa?. wiseGEEK, retrieved June 9, 2011
  2. Maike Vogt-Luerssen (2007). "The Mona Lisa of the Vernon Collection is still showing the columns". kleio.org. Archived from the original on August 16, 2007. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  3. The Walters Art Museum (2007). "The Walters' Mona Lisa". The Walters Art Museum. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  4. Loadstar's Lair (2007). "Mona Lisa". Loadstar's Lair. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  5. Charlotte Higgins (2006-09-23). "Unveiled: early copy that reveals Mona Lisa as her creator intended". London: The Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved September 15, 2007.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  6. Nigel Cawthorne.com (2002). "Mona Lisa Nude - Nigel Cawthorne.com". Nigel Cawthorne.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2008. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  7. BBC News (2003-02-18). "Mona Lisa smile secrets revealed". BBC News. Retrieved September 15, 2007.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  8. {{cite news |first=Margaret |last=Livingstone |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Is It Warm? Is It Real? Or Just Low Spatial Frequency? |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/290/5495/1299b |work=Science |publisher=American Associatf>Ramachandran, Vilayanur S. (June, 2006). "Cracking the da Vinci Code:What do the Mona Lisa and President Abraham Lincoln have in common?". Scientific American Mind. Scientific American Inc. Retrieved 2008-02-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  9. Philip Cohen (2007). "Noisy secret of Mona Lisa's smile". NewScientist. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  10. Dina Q. Goldin (2002). "Mona Lisa's Secret Revealed". Brown University Faculty Bulletin. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  11. ""Mona Lisa 'happy', computer finds"". BBC. 2005-12-15. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
  12. Sterling, Toby (2007-12-27). ""Mona LIsa Was 83 Percent Happy"". Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  13. "NGA - Virtue and Beauty: Woman at a Window (Smeralda Brandini?)". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved May 1 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  14. "3-D scan uncovers secrets behind Mona Lisa's smile". CBC. 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  15. Boswell, Randy (2006-09-23). "Canadian researchers set to reveal Mona Lisa mysteries". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  16. Austen, Ian (2006-09-27). "New Look at 'Mona Lisa' Yields Some New Secrets". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
  17. ""High resolution image hints at 'Mona Lisa's' eyebrows"". CNN. 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  18. Lillian Schwartz's webpage
  19. Bambach, Carmen C., ed. (2003). Leonardo da Vinci master draftsman. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 1-58839-033-0. pp. 183, 426
  20. Nicola Vacca (2008). "Mona Lisa and stereoscopy". Nicola Vacca. Retrieved June 16, 2008.
  21. Nicholl, Charles (2002-03-28). "The myth of the Mona Lisa". guardian.co.uk. London. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  22. Bramly, S. (1994). Leonardo: The artist and the man. London: Penguin Books. pp. 362–363 ISBN 0140231757
  23. Politica Online Forum Moderator (2003). "La Gioconda Di Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1510)" (in Italian). Politica Online Forums. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  24. Maike Vogt-Lüerssen (2010). Die Sforza III: Isabella von Aragon und ihr Hofmaler Leonardo da Vinci. Norderstedt: Books on Demand. ISBN 978-3-8391-7110-3.
  25. Giuseppe Pallanti. Mona Lisa Revealed: The True Identity of Leonardo's Model. Geneve: Skira. ISBN 88-7624-659-2.
  26. Bruce Johnston (2004). "Riddle of Mona Lisa is finally solved: she was the mother of five". London: Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  27. Giuseppe Pallanti / Associated Press (2007). "'Mona Lisa' died in 1542, was buried in convent". The Dominican Republic News. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  28. Peter Popham (2007-01-28). "The prince, the PM and the Mona Lisa". London: The Independent. Retrieved September 15, 2007.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  29. National Research Council of Canada (2006). "3D Examination of the Mona Lisa". Nataional Research Council of Canada. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  30. Randy Boswell (2006). "Canadian researchers set to reveal Mona Lisa mysteries". The Edmonton Journal. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  31. Rizzo, Alessandra. Male model behind the Mona Lisa, expert claims. Associated Press. February 2 2011.
  32. "German experts crack Mona Lisa smile". Reuters. 2008-01-14. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  33. Pappas, Stephanie (2011-05-27). "Is buried skeleton what remains of real Mona Lisa? - CBS News". CBS News. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
  34. The medical secret behind Mona Lisa's smile?, BBC News, accessed 01/07/2010
  35. Pisa, Nick and Luke Salked. "The real-life da Vinci Code: Historians discover tiny numbers and letters in the eyes of the Mona Lisa." The Daily Mail. December 13, 2010. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337976/Real-life-Da-Vinci-Code-Tiny-numbers-letters-discovered-Mona-Lisa.html
  36. Rossella Lorenzi. "Do Mona Lisa's Eyes Hide a Secret Code?" http://news.discovery.com/history/do-mona-lisas-eyes-hide-a-secret-code.html

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