2. Author of the painting -…
…Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an
Italian Renaissance polymath:
painter, sculptor, architect, musician,
mathematician, engineer, inventor, a
natomist, geologist, cartographer, bot
anist, and writer. His genius, perhaps
more than that of any other
figure, epitomized the Renaissance
humanist ideal.
3. Description of the painting
The painting, thought to be a portrait of Lisa
Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del
Giocondo, is in oil on a poplar panel, and is
believed to have been painted between 1503
and 1506. It was acquired by King Francis I
of France and is now the property of the
French Republic, on permanent display at
the Musée du Louvre in Paris. The ambiguity
of the subject's expression, frequently
described as enigmatic, the monumentality
of the composition, the subtle modeling of
forms and the atmospheric illusionism were
novel qualities that have contributed to the
continuing fascination and study of the
work.
4. Secret
of eyesResearcher Silvano Vinceti, chairman of the Italian national committee for cultural heritage,
says he's discerned the letters "LV" — "obviously Leonardo's initials" — on the Mona Lisa's
right pupil. "Far more interesting," Vinceti says, are markings — which he's interpreted as the
letters "B" and S," or possibly the initials "CE" — that he found in her other eye. "Leonardo
was keen on symbols and codes to get messages across, and he wanted us to know the
identity of the model using the eyes, which he believed were the door to the soul and a means
for communication," says Vinceti. He also found the number "149" (with a fourth digit
apparently having been erased) on the back of the painting.
In a "Dan Brown–style plot device," one of Vinceti's colleagues found an old book in an
antique shop that referred to symbols in the painting's eyes, triggering new scrutiny.
Eyes Mona Lisa are looking everywhere. No matter where you will stand up eyes Mona Lisa
are looking at you…
5. Secret
of smileWhen discussing the mystery behind the smile, art experts often refer to a
painting technique called sfumato, which was developed by Da Vinci. In
Italian sfumato means "vanished" or "smoky," implying that the portrait is
ambiguous and blurry, leaving its interpretation to the viewer's imagination.
This technique uses a subtle blend of tones and colors to produce the illusion
of form, depth and volume.
The human eye consists of two regions: the fovea, or central area, and the
surrounding peripheral area. The fovea recognizes details and colors and
reads fine print, and the peripheral area identifies motion, shadows and black
and white. When a person looks at the painting, the fovea focuses on her
eyes, leaving the peripheral area on her mouth. Peripheral vision is less
accurate and does not pick up details, so the shadows in her cheekbones
augment the curvature of her smile.
When the viewer looks directly at the woman's mouth, however, the fovea
does not pick up the shadows, and the portrait no longer appears to be
smiling. Therefore, the appearance and disappearance of her smile really is
an attribute of viewers' vision. This is one of the reasons why the painting
has remained an enigma to art enthusiasts and perhaps the most famous
painting in the world.
6. The earliest copy of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, Mona Lisa, has been found in the vaults of a
Spanish museum, looking younger and more ravishing than the original.
Art historians have hailed the discovery, made during conservation work at the Prado Museum, as one of
the most remarkable in recent times.
Museum officials said it was almost certainly painted by one of Leonardo da Vinci's apprentices alongside
the master himself as he did the original.
Copy of a painting
