Mona Lisa: Surprising Facts About the Famous Painting

Contents:

• First layer: Characteristics of a female personality in the image
• Layer two. Theft
• Level Three: Artwork Condition Analysis
• Level Four: Attacks
• Under the Layers

Without a doubt, the Mona Lisa is the most famous painting on the planet. While this is a prestigious title, it also has its drawbacks.

Like a multi-layered varnish, Leonardo da Vinci's work is covered in numerous myths, assumptions, and fakes, which sometimes makes it difficult to perceive its main advantage - its unrivaled simplicity. In this material, we will try to clear the work of the great artist from everything unnecessary.

The first layer: Characteristics of the female personality in the image

Lisa Gherardini was born in 1479 in Florence, into a family with high social status. In 2007, Italian art historian Giuseppe Pallanti discovered that the Gherardini family lived on Via Maggio, directly opposite Leonardo da Vinci's residence.

At that time, the 27-year-old master was just beginning his career, which would later lead him to fame. Soon he would leave Florence and settle in Milan for several years, then work briefly as an engineer for the cruel politician Cesare Borgia. He returned to Florence at the age of 51, already a fairly famous artist - this happened in 1503. That same year, he began work on a portrait of Lisa Gherardini.

More specifically, we are talking about Lisa del Giocondo: in 1495, at the age of 15, she married the 30-year-old nobleman and silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. She became his third wife and ultimately bore him six children.

According to all that is known, Leonardo's father, the elderly notary Piero da Vinci, introduced his son to Francesco. It was this man who would become the catalyst for their creative collaboration—he would ask the artist to create a portrait of his wife. By this time, it was already widely known that Leonardo tended to delay the completion of his works, and sometimes did not complete them at all. It is more or less precisely documented that the master worked on the "Portrait of Lady Lisa del Giocondo" for four years, but never completed it.

This information became available thanks to an important discovery made in 2005. In an archival copy of Cicero's "Letters" held in the Heidelberg Library, scholars discovered a curious note in the margins:

"Leonardo da Vinci uses the same strategy in each of his works. Just as he depicts the face of Lisa del Giocondo, he also paints the image of Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary. Let us analyze how he will work on the Hall of the Great Council, an agreement on which he had already reached with the Gonfaloniere. October 1503."

Agostino Vespucci, an employee In Machiavelli's office, he left a note that is significant for art historians. He knew Leonardo and, at his request, translated the Latin text concerning the Battle of Anghiari to help the artist create a scene for the Palazzo della Signoria. Thanks to this note in the margin, Vespucci not only helped researchers establish the date of the beginning of the work on the Mona Lisa, but also confirmed the identity of the model, which had long been the subject of disagreement among experts.

After this, the Mona Lisa disappears from our attention for some time, and only thanks to Giorgio Vasari, who described the lives of the most famous artists, sculptors and architects, we learn that in 1516 Leonardo da Vinci took the unfinished canvas with him, going to France to his last patron, King Francis I. He settled in the Château du Clos Lucé, and it was probably there that he completed the last details of the Mona Lisa before leaving this world in 1519.

Layer two. Theft

Leonardo died at the age of 67, and he left all his works of art as a legacy to his Salai's devoted student. This "little devil" did not accompany Leonardo on his trip to France, remaining in Milan. Nevertheless, even before the master's death, he decided to sell the paintings bequeathed to him to the French King Francis I for the impressive sum of 2,604 livres.

These conclusions are supported by a document discovered by historian Bertrand Gestas in 1999 in the National Archives of Paris. According to this document, not only did Leonardo da Vinci draft his will while still alive, but Salai also received funds from the royal treasury as early as 1518—a year before the artist's death.

From this moment on, the "Mona Lisa" found its new home in France, at the Château de Fontainebleau. This painting was known primarily in Florence, largely thanks to the still-living del Giocondo couple. Francesco died in 1538 at the age of 73, and Lisa passed away just four years later, at 63. Fortunately, before this, Giorgio Vasari, considered the founder of art criticism, had contacted them. His book on Leonardo's work made this information accessible to European intellectuals.

Only during the French Revolution did the public outside the nobility have the opportunity to see this painting. In 1797, it was placed on permanent display at the Louvre, where it remained throughout the 19th century. The only exception was a brief period when the work was in Napoleon's bedroom.

Until 1911, the Mona Lisa was displayed alongside other works on the lower level, beneath Paolo Veronese's impressive canvas, and had no distinguishing features in the exhibition space that would highlight its uniqueness.

Everything changed dramatically on August 21, when Vincenzo Peruggia, a young Italian patriot, decisively stole the famous portrait. He entered the museum quietly on a normal workday, hidden in a cleaning closet. After the Louvre's doors closed, he left with the painting tucked under his coat.

While it may seem surprising, Louvre security at the time was There was much to be desired. The surrealist poet Guillaume Apollinaire effortlessly stole Iberian figurines from the museum and even decided to give one of them to Pablo Picasso, who indignantly refused to accept it. This made both of them prime suspects, and Apollinaire was arrested on September 7. However, the case was soon hushed up: once the poet and artist returned the figurines, the real criminal was not caught for another two years.

Peruggia took the Mona Lisa to Italy, where he kept it in his apartment for two years, dreaming of selling the masterpiece in a local museum. However, in a state of great stress, he made the mistake of attempting to directly offer the painting to Giovanni Poggi, the director of the Uffizi Gallery. This is what led to his arrest.

Ultimately, the Mona Lisa spent several weeks in Florence before being returned to the Louvre on January 4, 1914. Peruggia spent only six months in prison, but upon his release, he became a national hero because he tried to return the work of art to his homeland.

Throughout this time, the Mona Lisa has been the subject of numerous newspaper articles, attracting the attention of the general public and encouraging people to flock to the Louvre to see the famous painting. The portrait's art-historical qualities only fueled its newfound popularity, arousing endless interest and curiosity among viewers.

During World War II, the Mona Lisa was temporarily hidden from public view. During this period, it traveled to various locations: the Château d'Amboise, the Luc-Dieu Abbey, the Château de Chambord, and was then transported to the Ingres Museum, located in Montauban Town Hall. Only after the war ended was the painting returned to the Louvre.

Two Last Journeys The Mona Lisa's creations took place in the second half of the 20th century. In 1963, the famous painting traveled to the United States for the first time, where it was exhibited in Washington, D.C., and then in New York. In 1974, the masterpiece traveled to Japan, where it was displayed at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum. It later found its way to the Pushkin Museum in the Soviet Union, a familiar place to many. Since then, the canvas has not left its place, because, despite its good condition, experts consider it very fragile.

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Level Three: Artwork Condition Analysis

Leonardo da Vinci painted the portrait of the Mona Lisa on a thin poplar panel—a wood widely used both in Italy and Florence. The panel measured 79.4 cm high and 53.4 cm wide, allowing the artist to depict his model in life-size proportions.

Unfortunately, over time, the panel suffered damage, as wood is highly susceptible to changes in humidity. As a result, the material became convex and cracked. On the front of the painting, a rather noticeable crack, 11 cm long, can be found, extending from the top edge to the head of the depicted model. Fortunately, the crack stopped at the forehead. Restoration work included stabilizing the damage to the back of the painting, using pieces of canvas to prevent the crack from spreading further.

Despite popular misconceptions, the painting was never trimmed—the columns were always represented as narrow pieces. Modern scientists analyzed both the exposed wooden panel itself and the frame in which it was mounted. Their research revealed small traces of paint that remained on the working frame during the painting's creation.

The canvas features multiple layers of thick, uneven, and oxidized varnish—the result of the restorers' efforts to preserve the wood after Leonardo's death. These layers have faded significantly over time, creating a slight yellowish tint that alters the perception of the entire color spectrum. As a result, the blue hue in the painting acquired a greenish tint, and the lower part of the portrait turned out darker than originally intended.

As we mentioned earlier, despite its fragility, the painting remains in good condition, although the traditional threats of time have been supplemented by risks of a completely different kind.

Level Four: Attacks

“I had an urge to burn down the Louvre. I dreamed of smashing the Greek collection of the British Museum into tiny pieces with a hammer and using the Mona Lisa to erase something with it. From that moment on, I felt like this world was mine!”

Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club became a significant milestone in modern literature. The work touches on themes of consumer society, internal crisis, and the search for identity. The protagonist, suffering from insomnia and alienation, finds solace in an unconventional club where men gather to fight. This space becomes a way for him to overcome his inner emptiness and resist the rules of society.

Palahniuk masterfully uses irony and dark humor to highlight the absurdity of life in imposed comfort. His characters, striving for liberation from the shackles of civilization, demonstrate the lengths to which people will go in search of true meaning. This novel not only draws attention to the problems facing modern man but also provokes reflection on the essence of freedom and self-identity.

Chuck Palahniuk's character would certainly change his mind if he learned that the Mona Lisa was painted not on canvas, but on wood. However, he is not the only one seeking to establish himself by exploiting the achievements of other artists.

In 1956, the first case of vandalism was recorded, when an unknown person doused the painting with an acid solution. In response, the work was placed behind protective glass. However, on December 30 of that year, Bolivian Hugo Ungaza Villegas threw a stone at the painting with such force that it broke the protective glass and left a small stain of pigment near the Mona Lisa's left elbow. As a result of this incident, the painting was placed behind bulletproof glass.

On April 21, 1974, during a tour in Japan, another assassination attempt occurred. 25-year-old Tomoko Yonezu attempted to splatter the artwork with red spray paint on the opening day of the exhibition. This act was part of an action by the Disability Rights Movement, which was attempting to draw attention to the problem of the exhibition's inaccessibility for people with disabilities. Although paint spilled onto the painting, it was quickly removed.

Yonezu was punished for minor disorderly conduct and received a fine of 3,000 yen. In response to the scandal, the Tokyo Museum decided to hold a special day for people with disabilities to visit the exhibition.

In 2009, another scandal erupted when an unnamed Russian woman, in a fit of anger, smashed a tea mug against the glass, unhappy with being denied French citizenship.

Although the painting itself and the protective glass remained undamaged, the incident again sparked discussion in French society about the idea of ​​creating a separate exhibition space for the Mona Lisa. This could ensure more careful screening of visitors and reduce the number of people gathering around the masterpiece.

In 2022 In 2008, a 36-year-old man in a wheelchair, dressed in women's clothing, threw a birthday cake at the famous painting. He then gave a laconic speech calling for environmental protection. Two years later, in 2024, amid the "Just Stop Oil" protests that saw environmentalists targeting art galleries across Europe, two women from the Riposte Alimentaire initiative doused another famous painting with soup, protesting the unsustainable global agricultural system. In both incidents, the Mona Lisa remained unharmed.

Under the Layers

The Mona Lisa is a remarkable work of art that harmoniously combines depth and precision of construction, vibrant light and shadow, and the softness and appeal of a gaze and a smile. No one before Leonardo had achieved such mastery, and only a few have attempted to replicate it in subsequent times.

For this reason, numerous rumors and speculation arose around the painting, and the first to sow confusion was Giorgio Vasari himself.

In his work "Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects," the author mentions that, in addition to the artist and model, musicians were also present at the painting sessions. Their task was to entertain Lisa, ensuring a constant smile on her face. Most likely, this is just a romantic fantasy. Thus, Vasari became the first to introduce the concept of the "enigmatic smile" of the Mona Lisa.

Vincent Delievain, a recognized expert on the work of Leonardo da Vinci, emphasizes that the artist did not aim to create hidden meanings in his works. His primary focus was on solving artistic problems.

In creating the composition for the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, da Vinci drew inspiration from the rich tradition of Flemish portraiture, especially from the work of Hans Memling.

If we delve deeper, the smile can also be viewed symbolically. The word "Mona Lisa" translates as "happy" in Italian, suggesting that Leonardo da Vinci may have intentionally included the smile to emphasize the meaning of his work—after all, a happy woman is bound to smile. This can be true at any level of interpretation.

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