Leonardo's
three great portraits of women all have a strange air of wistfulness.
This is at its most engaging in Lady with the Ermine,
brooding in the Female Portrait of Ginevra de' Benci
and undeniably enigmatic in the Mona Lisa. Unarguably
the most famous painting in history, it is also the only portrait
by Leonardo whose authorship remains unquestioned. Though neither
signed nor dated it is universally accepted to be by Leonardo.
But who was the subject, when was it painted and what is the
story behind the mystical smile?
Historians
agree that Leonardo commenced the painting of Mona Lisa in
1503, working on it for approximately four years and keeping
it himself for some years after. Supposedly this was because
Mona Lisa was Leonardo's favourite painting and he was loathe
to part with it, however it may also have been because the painting
was unfinished. Whatever the reason, much later it was sold
to the King of France for four thousand gold crowns. The world
has talked about it ever since. After the revolution in France
the painting was transferred to the Louvre. Napoleon took possession
of it using the panel to decorate his bedroom. Upon his banishment
from France Mona Lisa once more returned to the care
of the Louvre. What is certain is that the painting was never
passed onto the rightful owner, that being the man who originally
commissioned and presumably paid for it. .
The first
written reference to the painting appears in the diary of Antonio
de' Beatis who visited Leonardo on the 10th October 1517. He
was shown three paintings by the master, who was aged sixty-five
at the time. These three consisted of one of the Madonna and
Child in the lap of St. Anne, one of a young St. John the Baptist
and a third of a Florentine lady.
Who was
the lady in question? At this time researchers remain uncertain
of the sitter's identity with some claiming she was Isabella
of Aragon -- the widowed Duchess of Milan; they point out the
'widows veil' on her head as supporting evidence. Others conclude
she was the mistress of Giuliano de' Medici, but the veil on
her head may well be a symbol of chastity, commonly shown at
the time in portraits of married women. The path shown may also
be the 'path of virtue', a reference to the story 'Hercules
choice'; this was frequently referred to in Renaissance art
and would be unlikely to appear in a painting of a mistress.
It is probable that she was Mona Lisa Gherardini, the third
wife of wealthy silk merchant Francesco di Bartolommeo di Zanobi
del Giocondo. At this stage Lisa would have been over twenty-four
years of age, by the standards of the time she was not in any
way considered particularly beautiful, though Leonardo saw certain
qualities which have now made her the most heavily insured woman
in history.
The smile
has become a hallmark of Leonardo's style. It is most obvious
in the painting of the Mona Lisa, but also to be seen
in most of his other works. There is no mistaking the same smile
-- and upturn of the left side of the mouth -- on the face of
St. Anne in the Burlington House Cartoon. That drawing
dates from a bit earlier than the Mona Lisa, somewhere
around 1498. Speculation exists that the smile originated
from his mother, Caterina. A less romantic suggestion is that
the painter merely "concerned himself with certain
arrangements of lines and volumes, with new and curious schemes
of blues and greens."
Various
other suggestions have also been made as to the reason behind
the smile including the simple idea that during this period
in history women were instructed to smile only with one side
of their mouths so as to add an air of mystery and elegance.
An Italian doctor's answer was that the woman suffered from
bruxism; this is an unconscious habit of grinding the teeth
during sleep or times of great stress. The long months of sitting
for the portrait could well have triggered an attack of teeth
grinding. Leonardo did attempt to keep his subject relaxed and
entertained with the use of music; he had six musicians to play
for her plus and installed a musical fountain invented by himself.
Different, beautiful works were read out loud and a white Persian
cat and a greyhound bitch were there for playing with.
The most
unusual suggestion is that Mona Lisa was really a man
in disguise, perhaps being a form of self-portrait and the face
of Leonardo himself. Computer tests show some of the facial
features match well that of another(?)self-portrait of Leonardo.
Some copies of the Mona
Lisa also show the sitter as a male.
The truth
is that this style of smile was not invented by Leonardo da
Vinci. It can be found in a number of sculptures from the fifteenth
century, one of these being Antonio Rossellino's Virgin;
it is somewhat reminiscent of Greek funerary statues and
Gothic statues in medieval cathedrals. The mysterious smile
can also be found very widely in the works of Leonardo's master,
Verrocchio and Leonardo used the same smile in a number of his
paintings.
Mona Lisa
The Louvre, Paris
Much
has also been made about the Mona Lisa's 'uncommonly
thick' eyebrows, a belief which came about after Vasari wrote
a description of the painting. A close examination of the above
detail shows there aren't any eyebrows; women of the time commonly
shaved these off. Vasari had never seen the Mona Lisa and though
it is popular to quote his text on the painting it must be realised
he wrote his treatise based entirely upon hearsay. Despite this,
he was totally accurate in stating that, "On looking at
the pit of the throat one could swear that the pulses were beating."
The most
expressive parts of the human face are the outer points of the
lips and eyes. Leonardo has deliberately left these areas in
shadow which creates the effect of causing different people
to read different emotions on the face of the sitter, whomever
she may be.
Mona
Lisa is distinguished by her complete absence of jewellery
whereas the norm for the day was to present subjects with elaborate
decoration as can be seen in the painting done by Titan of Caterina
Cornaro, Queen Of Cyprus. Mona Lisa's hair is smooth with only
the covering of a black veil, hands are free of rings or bracelets
and nothing adorns her neck. There are small intricate loops
across the neckline of her dress; such was Leonardo's interest
in codes that many people have searched in vain for a message
in these loops. This painting went against all the trends of
the time and is a perfect example of how Leonardo never followed
traditions. He abandoned the usual poses, which had subjects
shown as stiff and upright, replacing this with a relaxed sitter,
her beautifully painted hands resting easily on the arm of her
chair.
While
most people are aware the Mona Lisa is also called La
Gioconda by the Italians (translation: "a light-hearted
woman."), fewer know the French refer to it as La Joconde.
Done in oils on poplar wood it was originally much larger
than it is today. Two columns on either side of Mona Lisa
have been cut off making it difficult to recognise she was
seated on a terrace. The bases of these columns can just be
seen on the very edges of the painting which now measures only
77 x 53 cms.
At the
time Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa he was also doing
some of his finest sketches of plant life and nature. This can
be clearly seen in the background of the panel and it is very
elaborate, perhaps the finest he ever did. The bridge shown
has now been identified as being at Buriano (Arezzo).
The painting
of Mona Lisa has had an interesting history being stolen
on the 21st August 1911 from an Italian thief who had taken
the painting to Italy. The loss of the painting was not reported
for twenty-four hours as most employees assumed it had been
removed by the official museum photographer. It then took a
week to search the 49-acre Louvre with the only find being the
painting's frame, which was located in a staircase. It resurfaced
some two years later in Florence, when an Italian named Vincenzo
Perugia offered to sell the painting to the Uffizi Gallery for
US$100,000. It was exhibited for a time and then returned to
Paris.
To steal
the painting Perugia had spent a night hiding in a little-used
room at the Louvre. While the museum was closed he simply walked
into the room where the Mona Lisa was hung, removed it
from the wall then cut it from the frame once he reached the
staircase. He then exited the building breaking out through
a 'locked' door by unscrewing the doorknob. Ten months prior
to the theft the Louvre had made the decision to begin having
their masterpieces placed under glass. Perugia was one of four
men assigned to the job and so in a position to get to know
the Louvre well enough to pull off the crime.
In 1956
acid was thrown on the lower half of the painting with the required
restoration taking some years.
The situation
today is that the Mona Lisa has become so well-known
that it may only be viewed behind thick protective glass after
battling through a large crowd of sightseers. The cover of triplex
glass which protects the painting was gifted by the Japanese
during the Mona Lisa's 1974 visit to Japan -- that being
the last time it left the museum. By international agreement
the painting will no longer be displayed in other countries
but will stay safely on display at the Louvre in Paris where
it may be properly protected against further damage, theft or
attack. The bulletproof box is kept at a constant 68 degrees
Fahrenheit with a humidity of 55 percent; a built-in air conditioner
and nine pounds of silica gel ensure no change in the air condition.
Once a year the box is opened to check the painting and for
maintenance on the air conditioning system.
Time
may have cracked and crazed the paintwork of the Mona Lisa,
but the air of mystery remains. It has been endlessly reproduced,
has inspired numerous writers, poets and musicians, yet remains
little understood. The
same style can be seen used by other masters such as Raphael
(Maddalena Doni) and Carot (Dame à la Perle).
Many naked women have been painted or drawn in the attitude
of the Mona Lisa and these were a favourite on the occasions
when artists were called on to portray royals in their baths.
The Carrara Academy in Bergamo has just one of many nude versions,
this one having been painted in the 17th century. Copying of
the Mona Lisa style started even before the painting
was finished.
By far
the most controversial version of the Mona Lisa is in the Vernon
collection in the U.S. This painting clearly shows the columns
on either side of the sitter which have been cut off the Louvre
example. The owners consider the artwork to be authentic and
value it at $2.5 million.
The last
work done on the panel was in the 1950's when age spots were
removed during a cleaning. Suggestions that the painting should
experience a thorough facelift involving the removal of layers
of resin, lacquer and varnish from the past 500 years have received
a firm thumbs down from the Louvre. Computer restoration shows
that the colours of the painting may be quite different without
the grime that presently covers it. Rosy cheeks instead of sickly
yellow, pale blue skies instead of the present green glow. On
the downside, any attempt to clean the painting may result in
irreparable damage from the various solvents required to remove
the varnish and there is no guarantee the suspected bright colours
exist below the coatings which have been applied over the years
as a protectant. For
those lucky enough to have
viewed the work under natural light state there is still a surprising
amount of colour evident to the eye, maybe more is below the
grime, but no one dares to clean her. X-rays have shown there
are three different versions of the Mona Lisa hidden
under the present one.
Sumber : " www.lairweb.org.nz/leonardo/mona.html "
