The first time I've seen the painting of Mona Lisa was in high school. I remember history teacher telling it was the world famous portrait by Leonardo da Vinci. Some girls even said she was the most beautiful woman at the time. Honestly I didn't give much consideration about it until I read Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. That book in itself is a revelation. Contrary to popular belief Mona Lisa was not famous for her enigmatic smile or mysterious interpretations, but by a mere fact that Da Vinchi declared she was his finest piece of work. It is even said he carried it whenever he traveled.
This most expensive piece of art was stolen twice, most recently in 1911. Two years later, she was found hidden in a trunk in a Florence hotel room. During World War II she had to be moved to different locations in France's countryside due to the threat. This year I've put 'Saving Mona Lisa: The Battle to protect the Louvre and its treasures from the Nazis' by Gerri Chanel to my TBR list.
This oil painting was drawn between 1503 to 1519 when Da Vinci was living in Florence. Some say the woman in half-body portrait is Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo. Others including Sigmund Freud interpret it to be Vinci's mother Caterina. The third theory is that the painting is not woman, but Vinci's self-portrait given the facial similarities between two. The exact identify of the sitter is not proven yet, adding more mystery to it.
What I learnt from Da Vinci code is that Mona Lisa not only looks androgynous but also her name is an anagram of divine unity of Amon and Isis (pictogramically lisa), Egyptian god and goddess of fertility. And that is the reason for her mysterious smile. Though fiction I tend to lean more on this theory than any others. Along the way somehow could not shake the picture of our own Ardhanarishvara. I digress.
Though warned by others we were really excited to see Mona Lisa in Louvre on our trip. And oh boy! We were stunned. Hanging on the northwest wall of Salle des Etats this piece was just 31 x 21 inches, smaller than the poster I've mentioned in the beginning of the post in a bullet proof case. Many have tried to vandalize the portrait by throwing rock, mug, acid and spray paint, hence the bullet proof glass. The crowd was making it impossible to have few moments of quite with this petit lady. It is painted on the poplar wood panel in sfumato style, in which forms appear to evaporate into one another.
Mona Lisa can't be sold or bought according to French Heritage law. She receives plenty of letters from admirers, so has her own mail box. Another known artist Pablo Picasso and poet Guillaume Apollinaire were briefly arrested when it was stolen in 1911, but were acquitted. She lived with Kings and Emperor from Francois I in Château de Fontainebleau to Louis XIV in Palace of Versailles to Napoleon Bonaparte in Tuileries Palace.
Having history of 500 years Mona Lisa is a timeless piece of art and continues to remain so for many years.
