1. LEONARDO THE LAST YEARS
Mona Lisa’s Secret
By Ton Pascal
There are many reasons why the “Mona Lisa” is undoubtedly the most famous,
researched, debated and talked about painting of all time. Its story, from commission,
concept, travels, and thrills are worthy of a Hollywood film script. Then there is also
the fact that its creator, Leonardo da Vinci, artist, scientist and inventor, is perhaps
one of the most recognized names in the world.
What secrets may still lie beneath the layers of the most famous and celebrated
painting the world has ever known?
The Mona Lisa’s simplest story starts in
1503 with Leonardo’s birthfather
commissioning him to do a portrait of Lisa,
the wife of his friend Francesco Del
Giocondo. Leonardo, having just escaped
the crazy Cesare Borgia, had reopened his
atelier in Florence with great success and
commissions purred in. Between night long
discussions with his newly found friend,
Niccolò Machiavelli, the painting of the
huge mural “The Battle of Anghiari” and the
daily, incessant fights, and mutual
harassments with Michelangelo Buonarotti,
Leonardo started the relatively small (77 cm
x 53 cm), oil painting of the Italian lady on
poplar boards. Leonardo’s father died the
following year and he kept the painting. Up
to closer to his death in 1519, Leonardo
never stopped adding strokes here and
there on this painting. By then the Italian
Lady, la Giaconda was already a very
famous painting.
With fame came questions and debates. What is the message here? Who is this
woman? Whether it is Lisa Gherardini or Lisa Del Giocondo, the identification of the
woman has kept scholars busy for centuries. The gossip, reports, and books written
on this subject alone could fill a library.
Controversy followed a few centuries later when scholars and researchers
questioned the originality, provenance and ownership of the painting, and again the
story became the source of countless books, essays and reports. Salai, Leonardo’s
alleged old lover and pupil con-artist was the source of this chapter. On January 12,
1524 Salai, who was also an informant-spy, was killed in a brawl. Listed in the
inventory of his possessions, among the eleven other paintings, all named after
Leonardo’s well-know masterpieces, was one called “La Giaconda”. This information
didn’t come to light until early 1800’s. No-one thought to check that in 1524 the
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2. LEONARDO THE LAST YEARS
original “Mona Lisa” was safely hanging in the palace of Fontainebleau along with
King Francis I’s other masterpieces, rather than a dead man’s house in Milan, one
thousand kilometers away.
All of these facts have contributed to making this painting very precious and famous,
but the main reason that makes the Mona Lisa so special is the brilliant, genial
conception and new approach to painting. Leonardo’s new experiment, his ‘esfumato’
technique, blending shadows and light on Mona Lisa’s portrait, was executed with
utmost precision. Mona Lisa’s expression eludes the viewer who questions whether
she is happy or sad. His ‘esfumato’ technique is disturbingly effective. Leonardo
softened all sharp outlines by very subtle and gradual blending of one tone into
another through the use of thin, intricate layers, half the width of a human hair, to
give the illusion of depth or three-dimensionality. Amazingly certain areas have as
many as thirty layers of almost transparent, hand made paint. Is it a dream image, a
vision, or a portrait of a real woman? The setting and background overflow with
symbols and messages screaming to be understood. Is art imitating nature? The
dreamy background landscapes are at different levels, so if you look at Mona Lisa
from the left she looks taller than from the right. Only a great master of perspective
like Leonardo could so effortlessly create this illusion of depth to its fullest advantage.
The great Florentine painter Georgio Vasari describes the painting in full detail but I
wonder where he saw it as he never visited Fontainebleau where Leonardo da
Vinci’s portrait was on display. We know that he visited Francesco Melzi, Leonardo’s
last assistant and artistic heir, several times after his return to Italy. Did Vasari see a
copy made by Melzi? I believe that there are several copies of a “Mona Lisa” still
hidden in dusty attics or secret vaults around the world. Leonardo was not a prolific
painter and when he did a major work it was talked about and most certainly copied
by many artists, as was the case of “Leda and The Swan”, which is lost, but copied
extensively, as well as “The Annunciation”, The Baptism of Christ”, “The Battle of
Anghiari” among others. It is unconceivable that this, even then, very celebrated
painting would not be copied by the best artists of the period. It was their form of
paying homage to a great artist.
Imagine if we could see the Mona Lisa in its original colors as Vasari describes it in
his 1550’s edition of “LIVES OF THE MOST EXCELLENT PAINTERS, SCULPTORS,
AND ARCHITECTS,”: “…Seeing that her eyes had that luster and watery sheen
which are always seen in life, and around them were all these rosy and pearly tints,
as well as the lashes, which cannot be represented without greater subtlety. The
nose, with its beautiful nostrils, rosy and tender appeared to be alive. The eyebrows
through his having shown the manner in which the hairs spring from the flesh, here
more close and here more scanty, and curve according to the pores of the skin, could
not be more natural. The mouth, with its opening, and with its ends united by the red
of the lips to the flesh-tints of the face, seemed, in truth, to be not colors but flesh. In
the pit of the throat, if one gazed upon it intently, could be seen the beating of the
pulse.” Aggressive retouching throughout past centuries has erased Mona Lisa’s
eyebrows and eyelashes but recent x-rays of the painting show that they originally
existed.
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3. LEONARDO THE LAST YEARS
Mona Lisa’s fame exploded to a new high when it was stolen on August 21 19ll. The
Louvre was closed for a full week. Guillaume Apollinaire, a French poet who had
once said that the Louvre should be burnt down, was the first to come under
suspicion. He was arrested and put in jail. The plot thickened when Apollinaire
implicated the painter Pablo Picasso, who was also questioned and put in jail. Both
men were later cleared and released. Everyone thought that the painting was lost
forever.
The actual theft was a very simple and easy caper. Vincenzo Peruggia, one of the
Louvre’s employees, was an Italian patriot who believed that the painting should be
returned to Italy. On that fatidic day he snatched the painting when there was no one
around, hid it in a broom closet until closing time and walked out with the painting
under his coat. For two years he kept the “Mona Lisa” in his Paris apartment. Finally
he was caught in Italy when he attempted to sell the painting to the Uffizi Gallery in
Florence. The “Mona Lisa” was returned to the Louvre in 1913 after it had been
exhibited all over Italy. Vincenzo served six months of house arrest and became
Italy’s new national hero.
The painting was again removed from the Louvre during World War II and taken
safely to several secret places. I am not even going into the shooting, rock and other
vandalistic attacks this art work has gone though.
Lately we have been bombarded with a
multi million dollar campaign by a
Swiss corporation wanting to add more
value to a painting they own claiming it
to be a first version of “Mona Lisa” by
Leonardo da Vinci. It is called the “The
Isleworth Mona Lisa”. This oil on
canvas, which was not Leonardo’s
medium, is a poor representation of the
original. Late 1400’s canvas made out
of hemp was introduced as a new
material for painting in a few regions of
Europe but it was not the most popular
and favorite medium then. The
‘Isleworth’ woman, her posture, veil,
her hair, eyes, mouth, does not capture
the simple beauty and elusiveness of
the original. It could very well be a copy
by an amateur artist of the 17th century.
We have the technology to exam the
composition of pigments and lacquers
in this painting against what Leonardo
used, as well as the canvas but none of
it has been done. Instead they rely on reviews of ‘scholars’ who claim to be Da
Vinci’s experts. I do not believe that “The Isleworth” painting is by Leonardo or
anyone from his school or time.
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4. LEONARDO THE LAST YEARS
The “Mona Lisa” has created mystery and questioned the unknown from the day it
was first seen, right up to the present day, which is exactly what art is supposed to
do. This everlasting masterpiece is still breathtaking despite the ravages of time and
subsequent dreadful retouching. However, the painting’s fame now works against it.
Dear “Mona Lisa” has her own private space at the Louvre now, but she is enclosed
by bullet proof Plexiglas and you can’t get close to it without attracting the attention of
the museum’s security guards. And the worst part is that most visitors to the Louvre
are more concerned about catching a camera-phone picture of the painting instead of
admiring the genial conception and execution of this master piece.
What a blockbuster of a film this artwork could make!
Ton Pascal is a writer, designer of all things and artist. He also loves history and is an
avid reader, so it is very natural that his latest book is a time leap into the 16th
century. LEONARDO THE LAST YEARS starts in 1516 and spans three and a half
years of Leonardo da Vinci’s life.
Follow Ton Pascal on Twitter @tonpascal
Buy the book on Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com http://amzn.to/HhNUKN
Check all about Leonardo on http://www.leonardo-tly.com/
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