In Behind the Painting Learn about the Masters of Art,who they were and their techniques.-Artedepaula

T h e A r t o f D e P a u l a

Behind the Painting

"The Enigma of the Mona Lisa"

My name is William DePaula and I’m on a quest to become one of the greatest artists of my generation. In order to do this I am constantly exploring the brilliant paintings and the masters of the art world. I learn about the artist, the artwork, the techniques used and what life was like during the creation of the masterpiece. I do this by gathering information from experts, the artists themselves, and research. I want to know what makes them great, how they did it, what happened and the culture behind it. Along the way I’ll learn and share how the artist created amazing works of art and how I’ll use the techniques in my art. I’ll tell you one thing -- this isn’t an art history lecture, we’re gonna get down and dirty exploring the story behind the painting.

What is the most famous painting in the world? I sat and thought about this in my studio for a few hours. The only one I could come up with was the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. No other painting has ever had the amount of celebrity that the Mona Lisa has. Sure, you might say well it’s all because of the Dan Brown novel, “The DaVinci Code”, but the Mona Lisa was immensely popular before gracing Dan Brown’s cover. In a way it was more likely the mysterious Leonardo that helped sell his books, along with the religious controversy of course.

Since the Mona Lisa is a painting, painted by a person just like any other painting, I’ll take a look first at the artist himself -- Leonardo. There aren’t many artists that you can call by a single name: Michelangelo, Raphael, and Madonna. Well, back to Leonardo, to understand how and why the Mona Lisa is so great I need to start out with Leonardo and his life. Leonardo was born on April 14, 1452, for you astrologers out there, that means he is an Aries. I decided to take a closer look at Leonardo’s sign, Aries. I first tried to get an astrological cart on his birthday, because astrology charts are often done for people to find out about themselves and their relationships, when I mentioned the date 1452 to astrologers they thought I was rather strange. I had to change my tactic, I instead looked up an astrology chart for 1492 and came up with Leonardo’s exact chart. (Astrology Weekly). Once I found this I became excited, but then it dawned on me I have no idea on what these circles and degrees mean. I figured this probably isn’t the only website with Leonardo’s chart, I searched for one that went more in depth. I found my answers (Indra Report) and they start by saying that someone with this chart loved to study and the people liked him, even if they didn’t know exactly why. This makes sense with Leonardo’s dedication to science, inventing all sorts of machines, and his desire to become a great painter by learning anatomy. The report goes on stating that someone with this chart is often misunderstood, aren’t all artists, and that they have trouble in close relationships. In the history books there isn’t much on Leonardo’s romantic relationships. The report which give a very detailed account, and could be used in an article within itself, summarizes that Leonardo was a philosopher with strong values, also that he is secretive an wants to serve humanity. The report goes into detail on what someone with this chart experiences, from their emotional highs and lows, while interesting, it doesn’t help me explain why the Mona Lisa is the world’s most famous painting.

Leonardo was an illegitimate child, the son of Ser Piero da Vinci, a Florentine notary, and Caterina, a peasant. After asking around, I found out that even though being an illegitimate child might have been frowned upon, it wasn’t that uncommon and wouldn’t have been a real barrier to succeed in life in Leonardo’s time.

Who exactly is the Mona Lisa, anyway? We maybe used to the portrait, but many of us have no idea who the Mona Lisa was. For a time there was even a group who declared that the Mona Lisas was in fact a female version of Leonardo. This might be interesting, but who’s to say that the Mona Lisa’s popularity is due to the world’s overwhelming desire to see men in drag? Unlikely. The theory that the Mona Lisa is Leonardo has been put to rest by many historians and art scholars. Basically it just doesn’t add up or equal each other.

The Mona Lisa is also known as La Gioconda. The Mona Lisa is believed to be Lisa Gherardini the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy businessman. So that is where the Lisa comes from, but what about the Mona? The Mona comes from Madonna, which is a term for “My Lady”. So the Mona Lisa is basically “My Lady Lisa”. The painting was started in 1502 and is estimated to have taken four years to complete. It is also argued that the painting still may be unfinished. Leonardo was a perfectionist and rarely completed a painting.

The Mona Lisa was admired and copied by various artists of the time. Lisa’s pose was often imitated by others. The smile of the Mona Lisa may be mysterious but is in tune with the time it was painted. In portraits, women were not encouraged to have a broad smile or look too serious. Leonardo went in the middle, like many of his contemporaries -- not a full smile, but a hint. Can you imagine the Mona Lisa with a huge toothy grin? This enigmatic smile gives her the appearance of being mysterisous and all knowing.

Leonardo’s greatest painting was often believed to be the Last Supper, not the Mona Lisa. So what about the Mona Lisa itself as a painting? I decided to take a look at the techniques that Leonardo used to make this portrait. The portrait uses a pyramid shape, her head being the top of the pyramid and her hands being the base. The painting was created using Leonardo’s sfumato technique. This technique took a great deal of time. Sfumato was used to create a smoky or hazy look and there were no clear lines. Leonardo is perhaps the greatest master of this technique.

How is the sfumato technique done? It’s the layering of tiny dots placed over and over again in relating tones, giving the appearance of no lines. I decided to try out the sfumato technique myself. After doing this I realized how dedicated Leonardo must have been, to see the picture a whole, and to take the time to do it the right way, using his technique. No wonder the painting was estimated to take four years to complete!

The Mona Lisa is an impressive painting, especially when you look at the pose of the portrait, a three-quarter view, along with the geometric shape of the subject, a pyramid shape, and the unusual background. What was most impressive is Leonardo’s use of the sfumato technique, this is what makes the Mona Lisa the Mona Lisa. The technique creates a mysterious look. Although the Mona Lisa was admired, it took centuries to become what it is now -- and it all centers around a theft.

The Mona Lisa was stolen on August 21, 1911. It was as if someone just walked into the Louvre and took it right from the wall and walked right out. The press had a field day, and many jokes were made on behalf of Le Louvre. All of a sudden everyone knew about the Mona Lisa, and it headlined papers all over Europe. Then all went was quiet. The Mona Lisa was thought to be lost forever. Soon it was forgotten by pop culture. Three years later, an amazing thing happened -- she was found.

Turns out Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee, had stolen the painting. He walked out of the muesum with the painting under his arm, hidden under his coat. This again awoke the media. If a lost painting was a sensation, the finding of it was an even bigger event. This time the Mona Lisa inspired countries around the world. This attention brought on by the theft and return of the painting caused people to take notice, especially details like the Mona Lisa’s smile. Like many popular recording artists of today, the Mona Lisa went on a world tour.

The popularity of the Mona Lisa could have drifted away but it stayed. Why did it stay? Rich in symbolic importance, the Mona Lisa became the unofficial representation of the Fine Arts. Some would attack it and some would use it to validate their work. Then there are all the books and movies about her. The Mona Lisa has never really become out of style since the theft.

So was the theft all there is to the Mona Lisa’s popularity? No, the Mona Lisa would not have been embedded in popular culture only because of the theft and the media frenzy surrounding her return and world tour. What the theft did was help the world discover Leonardo and the Mona Lisa. It was then that Leonardo and the Mona Lisa caught and permanently held our attention.

Leonardo was rediscovered to be a scientist and a wise teacher. He almost reminds you of Merlin with his beard and deep eyes -- a true renaissance man. We learned to admire Leonardo for his inventions and for his paintings. He represents to many what we would like to be, a visionary. The Mona Lisa herself is remarkable and mysterious. She is not a religious painting, or a painting of royalty, this would have most likely limited her popularity. “Mona Lisa” is a person we can relate to, but still can’t quite understand.