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Chapter 13
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CHAPTER ONE: What is the Mona Lisa?
A painting? A work of art? A masterpiece? A complete mystery? What is the Mona Lisa really?
Who is the girl in this painting? The wife of a wealthy silk merchant? -Lisa Gherardini? Or how about a self portrait of Da Vinci as a woman? A figment of his imagination? Or could it be something more than anyone else could imagine? It is, after all, the most famous work of art in existence –but why?. Mona Lisa has been a mystery for over 500 hundred years. The time has come to reveal her mysteries, one layer at a time. So I know what you’re probably thinking “what the hell is he talking about?” or maybe you just want a simple answer to one of the biggest mysteries of our time. WHO IS THE MONA LISA??? If I was asked to answer that with a single sentence it would pretty difficult. It’s taken almost a year of my life and starting, and having to stop and re-write this book several times. Every time I would get close to finishing I would end up unraveling more of the mystery and have to start over. So put in the most simple, yet cryptic way; the Mona Lisa is Love’s Prison. She’s a daughter, a mother, and a father – all at the same time. She’s the future and the past, and a single moment in time. She’s not just a painting, she’s alive and she has plenty to say. What others have to say about the Mona Lisa: “She is older than the rocks among which she sits; like the vampire, she has been dead many times and learned the secrets of the grave.” Walter Pater - Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873) “The smile of La Gioconda (another title for Mona Lisa) was for too long, perhaps, the Sun of Art. The adoration of her is like a decadent Christianity - peculiarly depressing, utterly demoralizing. One might say to paraphrase, Arthur Rimbaud, that La Gioconda, the eternal Gioconda has been a thief of the energies.” André Salmon, La jeune peinture francaise (1912).
“Her hesitating smile which held my youth in a little tether has come to seem to me but a grimace and the pale mountains no more mysterious that a globe or map seen at a distance, a sort of riddle, an acrostic, a poetical decoction, a ballade, a rondel, a villanelle or ballade with double burden, a sestina or chant royal. The Mona Lisa (is) literature in intention rather than painting” - George Moore, Wale, (1914)
“Mona Lisa is the only beauty who went through history and retained her reputation” – Will Rogers
“How could we possibly appreciate the Mona Lisa if Leonardo had written at the bottom of the canvas: 'The lady is smiling because she is hiding a secret from her lover.' This would shackle the viewer to reality, and I don't want this to happen to 2001.” - ?
“You cannot paint the "Mona Lisa" by assigning one dab each to a thousand painters.” William F. Buckley
“Could Hamlet have been written by a committee, or the Mona Lisa painted by a club? Could the New Testament have been composed as a conference report? Creative ideas do not spring from groups. They spring from individuals. The divine spark leaps from the finger of God to the finger of Adam.” Alfred Whitney Griswold
by Livingston and Evans Recorded January 7, 1958
Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa,
men have named you
Do you smile to tempt
a lover, Mona Lisa
But this chapter isn’t about who she is. It’s about what it is. If you don’t know much about art or the history behind art you might not think this painting is very remarkable. In a world where you see thousands of pictures every day a painting – even a perfect painting, wouldn’t ignite the same appreciation as it would in a world without photography. I had never thought there was anything too special about the Mona Lisa. It just looked like a girl with a strange smile. That opinion is as far as most people get in their observations of the Mona Lisa.- Yeah it’s a good painting, but what’s so special about it? But you should also ask yourself – what do you know about it? What do you know about art? You can’t look at the painting and appreciate it unless you know what you’re supposed to appreciate. That’s the aim of this chapter. To properly respect this painting you need to understand the history of art, specifically paintings. It needs to be considered in the context of its time – not ours. I’ve always thought art history was boring and almost redundant. I think that is because of how art is portrayed. When you think of art, especially ancient art, there is a boring and bland connotation that goes along with it. I would think of old men arguing about who was the best painter and why their opinions were more right than everyone else. There is almost a snobby-self-riotous-air behind art which (to me) ruins what art is all about. Personally I think art is about breaking the rules. It’s about explaining the unexplainable and changing mankind’s perceptions of how we see the world. It’s hard to understand today, but in the past art was edgy. It was an extravagance - Very risqué, very feminine, very scandalous, and vain. Like a 300$ pair of jeans it was hard to justify – people spending years of their life and paying thousands of dollars for paint on a canvas. (Or denim that makes you ass look nice) You could think about it like a Bugatti Veyron W16 1000hp 1.5million dollar car vs. a Toyota Camry (The top selling car). There are two kinds of people – those who understand it and appreciate it (and want one) and then those who envy it, call it overzealous, and over the top (and secretly want one.) It’s the elite perspective vs. the peasant’s point of view - two very different ways of looking at the world. So however you might look at the renaissance, however the boring educators might sway you to think – art is bad ass. Art is a visible rebellion, structured chaos. It’s almost always either over or under appreciated, taken for granted or embellished. It’s one of those things that becomes less cool the more “main stream” it becomes (to some) or conversely more cool the more popular it seems – also two different ways of looking at things. Personally I’m the unique type, the third person who see’s both, wants both – or neither. The one who makes up his mind independently (most of the time.) I try to look at things through my own eyes, and not through the eyes of the popular public opinion. I would want a Veyron and a Camry!
I’m a product of the digital and information age and most of my generation uses pixels instead of paint. The idea of spending years or even months on one piece of art seems not just pointless, but frivolous. With computers we can create things unimaginable only 20 years ago. Things that would literally take years can be done in seconds. That being said, after this experience, and writing this book I’ve gained a huge respect for any painting, and every painter. Today’s advancements only show how much more talented someone had to have been in the past.
The best and most powerful way to explain why the Mona Lisa is considered the greatest painting of all time would be to hand you a brush and paint and ask you to paint her yourself. I actually always thought painting would be easy. That was until I tried to paint something recently. I gave up after about an hour and gained a totally new admiration for painting. I’m much better at taking pictures then making them! You could think about it in the same way that digital photography has overtaken film. Why would anyone want to use film? There are some who are “purists” and that’s fine. I could appreciate it but wouldn’t really want to embrace it. I’m also the product of the now – I want it right now. If it’s not in stock – I don’t want it anymore. I can’t wait. I won’t wait – unless I have to. Patience is a virtue, but not when there is a perfectly good short cut.
So when I tried to paint I could appreciate it, but I would much rather use a mouse. Ctrl –z (undo) is preferable to starting over. I know Leonardo would agree – one of his biggest problems was his patience. He was very ADD in his art, leaving many projects incomplete and seemingly unable to finish something unless he wanted to – unless he HAD to. If he was painting something that was commissioned he could barely spend the time to finish. But when it came to something that was his own (if he didn’t loose interest half way though) he could spend years on it. There is usually a trade off between quantity and quality (especially with painting) and Da Vinci would have traded his brush for a mouse in a second if he could have both. So to put it another way, the Mona Lisa wasn’t ground breaking it was a phenomena that defied explanation. If you compare her to anything that’s come after her you would be missing the point. She was an example of what a painting could be. Something painters didn’t even realize they could aspire to create. There are certain pinnacles in life, and in art, that once reached set a new standard. An example of this would be running the mile. Each time someone breaks the record people say “that can’t be beaten” but then someone comes along and does. Rodger Bannister was the first to break the 4 minute mile “barrier” but was matched only 46 days later by John Landy. Once something goes from impossible to possible it makes you wonder why we thought it wasn’t possible in the first place. The current record is 3min and 43 seconds..
One of my favorite quotes is;
“Someone is always doing something someone else said could never be done.” -?
The only restrictions we have are perceived. The Mona Lisa was the equivalent of running the mile in seconds when everyone else at the time took hours. It’s the Veyron of paintings. It’s the strive for a previously unimaginable potential. It’s frivolous, it’s superficial, and it’s something that seems insignificant to all but those who can appreciate the humanity in excess.
The Renaissance:
Her creation not surprisingly occurred in the Renaissance. Most everyone has heard of this period in history but it is rarely understood or respected. In college my history teacher Professor Evanshine said that the Renaissance was the most influential and important times in human history. I remember only partly understanding why but then only appreciating it once I unknowingly become a renaissance man myself! It sounds cheesy but I guess only because of my preconceived notions about it.
I’ve always been intensely curious, always questioning everything but then at the same time always being ashamed of it. In school the people most respected weren’t the ones who liked learning the most but those who thought they were above it. I was in a constant struggle to “be cool” but then also always wanting to learn more and to better myself. When everyone else thought the point of education was to prove how popular you are or getting the grades to go to college my Mom always told me it was to learn. I found it difficult to believe her when everyone else, including most teachers, only cared about letters like A B C D F instead of what you know. You can tell by the over-use of scan-tron testing, (Multiple guessing) vs. Essays. If teachers really cared about what students learned they would take the time to read essays. Professor Evanshine was one of the few teachers I’ve ever had to use essays.
Professor Sharon Evanshine on the Renaissance;
“In history and human experience there are periods of time that are so extraordinarily important that they affect human society for centuries later. We often call there “axial periods.” There have been a number of “axial periods” in history that have changed events and ways of thinking, politics and religion, and everything else. The fifth century B.C., the fifth century AD with the fall of Rome and the triumph of Christianity was probably another “axial period”. Fifteen hundred AD, about 500 years ago was another “axial period” and we are yet in the wake of the Renaissance, yet affected by the events of that great “axial period,” though we may now be in another, a churning formative era. When we say the Renaissance and date it at about 1500 hundred, the truth is that a number of things had been happening for some time, it didn’t occur suddenly. The Renaissance is really the beginning of the modern world view.”..
The Renaissance was a time of change, specifically with knowledge and perceptions. There was a shift from religion to science as the guiding force behind the explanation of the world. Where as people believed the earth was flat, it was being proven to be a sphere. Where people believed the earth was the center of the universe, it was being proven to be anything but. Everything people thought they knew was changing. Some thrived on it and some hated it. This was a time of corrupt churches that sold “indulgences” - telling people that they could buy their way into heaven. It was a time of political struggle and war but also of tremendous growth. It seems that every time there is a lot of struggle and violence in the world, someone, or something emerges to conquer it.
Although human understanding and knowledge had been heading down hill it took a sudden and powerful leap forward. Science, art, and philosophy were taking new ground and paved the way for the world we live in today. Why and the specifics are beyond the scope of this book but it’s safe to say that The Mona Lisa and Leonardo Da Vinci are the apex of this new wave of thinking of progress and innovation.
Before its creation art was taking small restrained steps forward. After Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa a standard was set that has never been matched. Even with all our technology- leaving our planet, landing on the moon, the internet, ipods, windows vista, photography - with all our accomplishments we are still amazed by this painting. The question that eludes most people is why??
What is it about this painting that makes it so great? Why is it considered, out of every work of art ever created, that it’s the “best” the most famous?? AND why has it kept that title for over 500 years?
Here’s something even more fascinating. In 2006 the first ever laser 3d scan was performed on the Mona Lisa. After a year of analyzing what they scanned they were still unable to understand or explain HOW Da Vinci painted her – his technique for applying the paint.. Think about that for a second. …
They can x-ray, scan, find fingerprints, and do unimaginable things with painting analysis but still not know how this painting was painted? Of course, it’s just a painting. It was painted, right? You would think so..
I’ve found that most things in life don’t live up to their reputations. Amazing sales are anything but amazing. The best, usually isn‘t. The most popular, isn’t usually even liked. In the case of the Mona Lisa I was not only surprised by the many assertions of her greatness, but found reasons throughout my “research” to not only support those claims but to advance them.
Suffice to say the Mona Lisa isn’t a painting, but an experience. She isn’t a work of art- she defines what art is and what it can be. Since this is only the first chapter and the beginning of my journey we should start out with what was known, and what is still considered a mystery.
I hope after reading this book and the story that went on behind writing it you’ll realize that this isn’t a book of fiction or fabricated theories. This book is my explanation for something that defies convention. Like trying to describe a sound you’ve never heard or a sight you’ve never seen. It’s strange to me that everything in my life has led up to this and given me the ability to write this book. BUT it was never, ever, my intention. That’s important to realize when you read through this book. This isn’t an art historian’s theory who has spent his life trying to understand the greatest works of art. I’ve never looked at any painting for more than a few seconds before all this. Now you might think that lessen my credibility, but let’s not forget we’re not talking about brain surgery here or rocket science.
Anyone can learn anything there is to know about art with the internet, libraries, and television. So consider my inexperience as a stepping stone – but one whose path is very achievable. Think of it like someone walking into a room full of people looking for something. They’ve all been at it for hours arguing about where it is, where it could be, - not being able to find it. Then someone new walks in and see’s it right away. Like how someone will be looking through their purse for something forever and in desperation and amazement watch someone else find it in seconds –
“It’s right there d u m a s”
Not only do I have a fresh set of eyes and an unbiased perspective I have hundreds of years of humanities knowledge in the form of books and web sites.
Think of my experience like a farmer who’s found a fossil in his field. Then without any previous knowledge of fossils or archaeology --trying to explain what he’s found. Where it came from, how it got there, what it means to science.. But never haven even held a fossil before! But since it’s 2007 he can go online and in seconds know almost anything he could want about archaeology. Send emails to experts, see pictures of other fossils to compare it to, and all relatively cost free.
I didn’t go out looking to write a book about the Mona Lisa. I didn’t even know that there were any mysteries or things that needed to be solved. I couldn’t even explain why I’ve been able to notice what I have, or seen what I’ve saw. What this book is the equivalent of that farmer putting his life on hold for almost a year to research and learn everything he needed to in order to explain what he’s found.. Unlike a farmer I might have a special link to Da Vinci that gives me an advantage, but we’ll get into that later.
SO, What is the Mona Lisa?
A painting! The most famous painting. The greatest Painting painted by the Greatest Painter. Probably the most famous face in the world. The most revered, the most copied, the most intriguing smile.. It’s a phenomenon, a cult classic, the epitome of genius design and execution. In a world where things hardly ever live up to their reputation, I assure you the Mona Lisa surpasses all.
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This is what is commonly accepted about the Mona Lisa;
It’s 30 × 21 inches It’s painted on Poplar wood. It’s said to be painted between 1503-1507 There are 3 other paintings underneath the top coat – (she was x-rayed) It’s owned by the French government and housed in the Louvre It’s a painting of “Lisa Giocondo.” Sometimes titled; La Giaconda (Italian) or La Jaconde (in French)
The Mona Lisa once held Guinness’s world record for the most expensive painting of all time. It was valued for insurance reasons at 100 million dollars- but that was over 20 years ago. If you were to calculate inflation and the revived attention Da Vinci and the Mona Lisa have been getting it would probably be worth close to a billion dollars! It’s not just the painting but Da Vinci too. At an auction for some of Da Vinci’s journals, Bill Gates paid over 30 million dollars for a collection of Notebooks - for some pieces of paper! (I would have too) That should make you realize how significant Da Vinci and his work are even after 500 years.
The Mona Lisa has been copied, defaced, and even mocked. Cartoons have been made of her. Britney Spears and Guster even have a song titled; Mona Lisa! She’s also starred in movies like Mona Lisa Smile. Recently The Da Vinci Code has made over 600 million dollars world wide and as the name suggests, Da Vinci had a lot to do with it. But is there really a code? Secret societies and cover ups?
Dan Brown is definitely onto something. His book got me asking questions that I didn’t know lacked answers. One thing I’ve noticed is that although a lot of Da Vinci’s work alludes to there being a code, it might be mistaken for something else. Although I don’t know, haven’t researched, or really care. I don’t see Da Vinci being apart of any society. I think it’s much more likely that after his death secret societies would definitely like to have someone like him as a member and do what they could to make it seem like he was. Just a hunch though.
The question we have to ask ourselves is what’s the purpose behind his secrecy? There isn’t a single “code” but a bunch of clues that point towards a solution. Everything I’ve found has been in plain sight but takes a well trained eye to notice. When I first started all of this I didn’t understand why no one else had put all of this together – it seemed pretty obvious to me. BUT, it took noticing the coincidences, putting them together, and coming to one conclusion before I realized that it was just another step. One of my fears was that I was figuring out something I wasn’t supposed to. Now I’m thinking, and hoping, I’m seeing things no one but Da Vinci has.
Before finishing this book I read a news article about a woman who killed herself because of the very same situation I’ve been in. She read the Da Vinci code which ignited a paranoid imagination which became entirely too real after she began to notice “codes” in Da Vinci’s art. She worked at a gallery that had his art and I would assume, like I went through myself– she noticed things that she thought people would kill her over. I thankfully only felt the same way for a few short days. It’s important to realize that although the Da Vinci code has a lot of facts in it, the story is fictional. Although I haven’t gotten many responses for what I’ve found, no one has tried to stop me~!
The History of the Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa has a past that’s even more intriguing and controversial than her smile. There seems to be almost too much vagueness and things that don’t make sense for something created by someone who left behind thousands of notes and journals. Why there’s even conflicting information makes me wonder; what’s really going on?
History is full of misconceptions but the story behind Mona Lisa is more than just a difference of opinion but more like a pre meditated advertising scheme. Why didn’t Da Vinci just leave a date and title or anything about the painting? It seems like that should be the real mystery! What reason could he have behind not labeling this painting or even mentioning her anywhere?
Everything we “know’ about the Mona Lisa including the title is from Vasari. He wrote the first biography of Leonardo around 1550. He said that Da Vinci worked on the Mona Lisa for four years but didn’t part with her until around 1517 when he went to France to work for King François I. The king either bought the painting around that same time or inherited it when Leonardo died on May 2, 1519. (like I said there is conflicting information) Either way Leonardo had access the painting until his death. She stayed in France, where she still remains. (Leonardo is Italian though!)
A Time Line of Mona Lisa
Something to consider about the Mona Lisa is why she became so popular but also when she did. Before the advent of the Photograph the only people who could have seen her would have been people who could see her in person. Since the painting is so complicated it’s very difficult to make a believable fake. The painting’s real popularity grew after she was stolen. Before that she was mostly known by art aficionados and those interested in art enough to go visit her. It’s very difficult to become popular without being able to be seen. Especially for a painting!
Another reason for her popularity is Lisa’s smile. Everyone had a different opinion of her expression. She became a legend because of the controversy she has caused. There was also the added mystery about who she really was. Since “Mona Lisa” wasn’t the name Da Vinci gave the painting and left behind no noticeable sign as to who she really was it led to people guessing. Like I said, Da Vinci knew what he was doing and that controversy can make something very popular – everyone wanted to figure out who she was. Not only that but the painting itself appears to stare at you and change as you look at it. We’re only JUST now figuring out how a painting can do that but back then it added to her mystery..
The Mysteries:
Now that you know what’s “known” about the painting I should also go over what’s not known.
It “should” be like this:
You might think the answers lay with answering the usual :
WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN AND HOW
Which I’ll also attempt to answer - But in this case, as in most great questions it’s WHY…
Why did he paint her?
Why don’t we know
who she is? Why can’t we agree on her expression?
Why are there even mysteries to begin with? Why did Da Vinci intentionally create these mysteries??
So to sum it up, the Mona Lisa is not just considered the greatest painting of all time. It’s a complete mystery. It’s just a painting, but it’s sooo much more.
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