Mona Lisa

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Mona Lisa
Italian: La Gioconda, French: La Joconde
See adjacent text.
Artist Leonardo da Vinci
Year c. 1503–1506, perhaps continuing until c. 1517
Type Oil on poplar
Dimensions 77 cm × 53 cm (30 in × 21 in)
Location Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Mona Lisa (Monna Lisa or La Gioconda in Italian; La Joconde in French) is a half-length portrait of a woman by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, which has been acclaimed as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world."[1]

The painting, thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, is in oil on a white Lombardy poplar panel, and is believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506, although Leonardo may have continued working on it as late as 1517. It was acquired by King Francis I of France and is now the property of the French Republic, on permanent display at The Louvre museum in Paris since 1797.[2]

The ambiguity of the subject's expression, which is frequently described as enigmatic,[3] the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modeling of forms and the atmospheric illusionism were novel qualities that have contributed to the continuing fascination and study of the work.[4]

Title and subject

The title of the painting that is known in English as Mona Lisa stems from a description by Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari, who wrote "Leonardo undertook to paint, for Francesco del Giocondo, the portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife."[5][6] Mona in Italian is a polite form of address originating as ma donna —similar to Ma’am, Madam, or my lady in English. This became madonna, and its contraction mona. The title of the painting, though traditionally spelled "Mona" (as used by Vasari[5]), is also commonly spelled in modern Italian as Monna Lisa, but this is rare in English.

Vasari's account of the Mona Lisa comes from his biography of Leonardo published in 1550, 31 years after the artist's death, and which has long been the best known source of information on the provenance of the work and identity of the sitter. Leonardo's assistant Salaì, at his death in 1525, owned a portrait which in his personal papers was named la Gioconda, a painting bequeathed to him by Leonardo. That Leonardo painted such a work, and its date, were confirmed in 2005 when a scholar at Heidelberg University discovered a marginal note in a 1477 printing of a volume written by the ancient Roman philosopher Cicero. The note is dated October 1503 and was written by Leonardo's contemporary Agostino Vespucci. This note likens Leonardo to renowned Greek painter Apelles, who is mentioned in the text, and states that Leonardo was at that time working on a painting of Lisa del Giocondo.[7]

A margin note by Agostino Vespucci (visible at right) discovered in a book at Heidelberg University, dating to 1503, states that Leonardo was working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.

The sitter, Lisa del Giocondo,[8][9] was a member of the Gherardini family of Florence and Tuscany, and the wife of wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo.[10] The painting is thought to have been commissioned for their new home, and to celebrate the birth of their second son, Andrea.[11] The Italian name for the painting, La Gioconda, means "jocund" ("happy" or "jovial"), or literally "the jocund one", a pun on the feminine form of the sitter's married name Giocondo.[10][12] In French, the title La Joconde has the same meaning.

Over the years there have been several alternative views among scholars as to the subject of the painting. Some have argued that Lisa del Giocondo was the subject of a different portrait, identifying at least four other paintings as the Mona Lisa referred to by Vasari.[13][14] Several other individuals have been proposed as the subject of the painting.[15] Isabella of Aragon,[16] Cecilia Gallerani,[17] Costanza d'Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla,[15] Isabella d'Este, Pacifica Brandano or Brandino, Isabela Gualanda, Caterina Sforza, —even Salaì and Leonardo himself— are all among the list of posited models portrayed in the painting.[18][19] Currently, the consensus of art historians is that the painting depicts Lisa del Giocondo, which has always been the traditional view.[7]


Presumed self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, executed in red chalk sometime between 1512 and 1515

Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503 or 1504 in Florence, Italy.[20] Although the Louvre states that it was "doubtless painted between 1503 and 1506",[4] the art historian Martin Kemp says there is some difficulty in confirming the actual dates with certainty.[10] According to Leonardo's contemporary, Giorgio Vasari, "after he had lingered over it four years, [he] left it unfinished".[6] Leonardo, later in his life, is said to have regretted "never having completed a single work".[21]

In 1516 Leonardo was invited by King François I to work at the Clos Lucé near the king's castle in Amboise. It is believed that he took the Mona Lisa with him and continued to work after he moved to France.[18] Art historian Carmen C. Bambach has concluded that da Vinci probably continued refining the work until 1516 or 1517.[22]

On his death the painting was inherited, among other works, by his pupil and assistant Salaì.[10] The king bought the painting for 4,000 écus and kept it at Palace of Fontainebleau, where it remained until given to Louis XIV. Louis XIV moved the painting to the Palace of Versailles. After the French Revolution, it was moved to the Louvre, but spent a brief period in the bedroom of Napoleon in the Tuileries Palace.

During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) it was moved from the Louvre to the Brest Arsenal.[23] During World War II, the painting was again removed from the Louvre and taken safely, first to Château d'Amboise, then to the Loc-Dieu Abbey and Château de Chambord, then finally to the Ingres Museum in Montauban.

Theft and vandalism

Vacant wall in the Salon Carré, Louvre

The painting's fame was emphasized when it was stolen on 21 August 1911.[24] The next day, Louis Béroud, a painter, walked into the Louvre and went to the Salon Carré where the Mona Lisa had been on display for five years. However, where the Mona Lisa should have stood, he found four iron pegs. Béroud contacted the section head of the guards, who thought the painting was being photographed for marketing purposes. A few hours later, Béroud checked back with the section head of the museum, and it was confirmed that the Mona Lisa was not with the photographers. The Louvre was closed for an entire week to aid in investigation of the theft.

French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who had once called for the Louvre to be "burnt down", came under suspicion; he was arrested and put in jail. Apollinaire tried to implicate his friend Pablo Picasso, who was also brought in for questioning, but both were later exonerated.[25]

At the time, the painting was believed to be lost forever, and it was two years before the real thief was discovered. Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia had stolen it by entering the building during regular hours, hiding in a broom closet and walking out with it hidden under his coat after the museum had closed.[12] Peruggia was an Italian patriot who believed Leonardo's painting should be returned to Italy for display in an Italian museum. Peruggia may have also been motivated by a friend whose copies of the original would significantly rise in value after the painting's theft. A later account suggested Eduardo de Valfierno had been the mastermind of the theft and had commissioned forger Yves Chaudron to create six copies of the painting to be sold in the United States while the location of the original was unclear.[26] But the original remained in Europe and after having kept the Mona Lisa in his apartment for two years, Peruggia grew impatient and was finally caught when he attempted to sell it to the directors of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence; it was exhibited all over Italy and returned to the Louvre in 1913. Peruggia was hailed for his patriotism in Italy and served six months in jail for the crime.[25]

In 1956, part of the painting was damaged when a vandal threw acid at it.[27] On 30 December of that same year, the painting was damaged again when a rock was thrown at it, resulting in the loss of a speck of pigment near the left elbow, which was later restored.[28]

The use of bulletproof glass has shielded the Mona Lisa from more recent attacks. In April 1974 a "lame woman", upset by the museum's policy for disabled people, sprayed red paint at the painting while it was on display at the Tokyo National Museum.[29] On 2 August 2009, a Russian woman, distraught over being denied French citizenship, threw a terra cotta mug or teacup, purchased at the museum, at the painting in the Louvre; the vessel shattered against the glass enclosure.[30][31] In both cases, the painting was undamaged.


Detail of the background (right side)

Leonardo used a pyramid design to place the woman simply and calmly in the space of the painting. Her folded hands form the front corner of the pyramid. Her breast, neck and face glow in the same light that models her hands. The light gives the variety of living surfaces an underlying geometry of spheres and circles. Leonardo referred to a seemingly simple formula for seated female figure: the images of seated Madonna, which were widespread at the time. He effectively modified this formula in order to create the visual impression of distance between the sitter and the observer. The armrest of the chair functions as a dividing element between Mona Lisa and the viewer.

The woman sits markedly upright with her arms folded, which is also a sign of her reserved posture. Only her gaze is fixed on the observer and seems to welcome them to this silent communication. Since the brightly lit face is practically framed with various much darker elements (hair, veil, shadows), the observer's attraction to it is brought to even greater extent. The woman appears alive to an unusual measure, which Leonardo achieved by his new method not to draw the outlines, "mainly in two features: the corners of the mouth, and the corners of the eyes" (Gombrich), as firmly as that had been the use, before (sfumato).[32] There is no indication of an intimate dialogue between the woman and the observer as is the case in the Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (Louvre) painted by Raphael about ten years later, and undoubtedly influenced by the work.


The painting was among the first portraits to depict the sitter before an imaginary landscape and Leonardo was one of the first painters to use aerial perspective.[34] The enigmatic woman is portrayed seated in what appears to be an open loggia with dark pillar bases on either side. Behind her a vast landscape recedes to icy mountains. Winding paths and a distant bridge give only the slightest indications of human presence. The sensuous curves of the woman's hair and clothing are echoed in the undulating imaginary valleys and rivers behind her. The blurred outlines, graceful figure, dramatic contrasts of light and dark, and overall feeling of calm are characteristic of Leonardo's style. Owing to the expressive synthesis that Leonardo achieved between sitter and landscape it is arguable whether Mona Lisa should be considered as a traditional portrait, for it represents an ideal rather than a real woman. The sense of overall harmony achieved in the painting—especially apparent in the sitter's faint smile—reflects the idea of a link connecting humanity and nature.

Mona Lisa has no clearly visible eyebrows or eyelashes. Some researchers claim that it was common at this time for genteel women to pluck these hairs, as they were considered unsightly.[35][36] In 2007, French engineer Pascal Cotte announced that his ultra high resolution scans of the painting provide evidence that Mona Lisa was originally painted with eyelashes and with better visible eyebrows, but that these had gradually disappeared over time, perhaps as a result of overcleaning.[37] For modern viewers the nearly missing eyebrows add to the slightly abstract quality of the face.

There has been much speculation regarding the painting's model and landscape. For example, that Leonardo probably painted his model faithfully since her beauty is not seen as being among the best, "even when measured by late quattrocento (15th century) or even twenty-first century standards."[38] Some art historians in Eastern art, such as Yukio Yashiro, also argue that the landscape in the background of the picture was influenced by Chinese paintings;[39] however, this thesis has been contested for lack of clear evidence.[39]

A recent research by a geomorphology professor at Urbino University and an artist-photographer revealed astonishing likenesses of the Mona Lisa's landscapes to some views in the Montefeltro region in the Italian provinces of Pesaro, Urbino and Rimini.[40][41]


The Mona Lisa has survived for more than 500 years, and an international commission convened in 1952 noted that "the picture is in a remarkable state of preservation."[42] This is partly due to the result of a variety of conservation treatments the painting has undergone. A detailed analysis in 1933 by Madame de Gironde revealed that earlier restorers had "acted with a great deal of restraint."[42] Nevertheless, applications of varnish made to the painting had darkened even by the end of the 16th century, and an aggressive 1809 cleaning and revarnishing removed some of the uppermost portion of the paint layer, resulting in a washed-out appearance to the face of the figure. Despite the treatments, the Mona Lisa has been well cared for throughout its history, and although the panel's warping caused the curators "some worry",[43] the 2004–05 conservation team was optimistic about the future of the work.[42]

Poplar panel

At some point in its history, the Mona Lisa was removed from its original frame. The unconstrained poplar panel warped freely with changes in humidity, and as a result, a crack developed near the top of the panel, extending down to the hairline of the figure. In the mid-18th century to early 19th century, two butterfly-shaped walnut braces were inserted into the back of the panel to a depth of about 1/3 the thickness of the panel. This intervention was skillfully executed, and successfully stabilized the crack. Sometime between 1888 and 1905, or perhaps during the picture's theft, the upper brace fell out. A later restorer glued and lined the resulting socket and crack with cloth. The flexible oak frame (added 1951) and cross braces (1970) help to keep the panel from warping further.[citation needed]




The Mona Lisa has had many different decorative frames in its history, owing to changes in taste over the centuries. In 1909, the Comtesse de Béhague gave the portrait its current frame,[44] a Renaissance-era work consistent with the historical period of the Mona Lisa. The edges of the painting have been trimmed at least once in its history to fit the picture into various frames, but no part of the original paint layer has been trimmed.[42]

Cleaning and touch-up




Mona Lisa behind glass

On 6 April 2005—following a period of curatorial maintenance, recording, and analysis—the painting was moved to a new location within the museum's Salle des États. It is displayed in a purpose-built, climate-controlled enclosure behind bulletproof glass.[45] Since 2005 the painting has been illuminated by an LED lamp, and in 2013 a new 20 watt LED lamp was installed, specially designed for this painting. The lamp has a Colour Rendering Index up to 98, and minimizes infrared and ultraviolet radiation which could otherwise degrade the painting.[46] The renovation of the gallery where the painting now resides was financed by the Japanese broadcaster Nippon Television.[47] About 6 million people view the painting at the Louvre each year.[18] A charcoal and graphite study of the Mona Lisa attributed to Leonardo is in The Hyde Collection, in Glens Falls, New York.[48]


2010: Mona Lisa is among the greatest attractions in the Louvre

Historian Donald Sassoon catalogued the growth of the painting's fame.[49] During the mid-19th century, Théophile Gautier and the Romantic poets were able to write about Mona Lisa as a femme fatale because Lisa was an ordinary person. Mona Lisa "...was an open text into which one could read what one wanted; probably because she was not a religious image; and, probably, because the literary gazers were mainly men who subjected her to an endless stream of male fantasies." During the 20th century, the painting was stolen, an object for mass reproduction, merchandising, lampooning and speculation, and was reproduced in "300 paintings and 2,000 advertisements".[50] The subject was described as deaf, in mourning,[14] toothless, a "highly-paid tart", various people's lover, a reflection of the artist's neuroses, and a victim of syphilis, infection, paralysis, palsy, cholesterol or a toothache.[50] Scholarly as well as amateur speculation assigned Lisa's name to at least four different paintings[13][14][15] and the sitter's identity to at least ten different people.[16][17][19][51]

US President John F. Kennedy, Madeleine Malraux, André Malraux, Jacqueline Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson at the unveiling the Mona Lisa at the National Gallery of Art during its visit to Washington D.C., 8 January 1963.

Visitors spend about 15 seconds viewing the Mona Lisa.[52] Until the 20th century, Mona Lisa was one among many and not the "most famous painting"[53] in the world as it is termed today. Among works in the Louvre, in 1852 its market value was 90,000 francs compared to works by Raphael valued at up to 600,000 francs. In 1878, the Baedeker guide called it "the most celebrated work of Leonardo in the Louvre". Between 1851 and 1880, artists who visited the Louvre copied Mona Lisa roughly half as many times as certain works by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Antonio da Correggio, Paolo Veronese, Titian, Jean-Baptiste Greuze and Pierre-Paul Prud'hon.[50]

From December 1962 to March 1963, the French government lent it to the United States to be displayed in New York City and Washington, D.C.[54] In 1974, the painting was exhibited in Tokyo and Moscow.[55]

Before the 1962–3 tour, the painting was assessed for insurance at $100 million. The insurance was not bought. Instead, more was spent on security.[56] As an expensive painting, four paintings sold for more: the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt, for $135 million, the Woman III by Willem de Kooning sold for $138 million in November 2006, and No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock sold for $140 million in November 2006 and one painting from The Card Players series by Paul Cézanne sold for $250 million.[57] However, adjusted for inflation using the US Consumer Price Index, $100 million in 1962 is $760 million in 2012, making it, in practice, by far the most valued painting in the world.[58]


Although the sitter has traditionally been identified as Lisa del Giocondo, a lack of definitive evidence has long fueled alternative theories, including Leonardo's mother Caterina in a distant memory and the possibility that Leonardo used his own likeness. Other aspects of the painting that have been subject to speculation are the original size of the painting, whether it is the original, why it was painted, and various explanations for how the effect of an enigmatic smile was achieved.


Le rire (The laugh) by Eugène Bataille, or Sapeck (1883)

The avant-garde art world has made note of the undeniable fact of the Mona Lisa's popularity. Because of the painting's overwhelming stature, Dadaists and Surrealists often produce modifications and caricatures. Already in 1883, Le rire, an image of a Mona Lisa smoking a pipe, by Sapeck (Eugène Bataille), was shown at the "Incoherents" show in Paris. In 1919, Marcel Duchamp, one of the most influential modern artists, created L.H.O.O.Q., a Mona Lisa parody made by adorning a cheap reproduction with a moustache and a goatee. Duchamp added an inscription, which when read out loud in French sounds like "Elle a chaud au cul" meaning: "she has a hot ass", implying the woman in the painting is in a state of sexual excitement and intended as a Freudian joke.[59] According to Rhonda R. Shearer, the apparent reproduction is in fact a copy partly modelled on Duchamp's own face.[60]

Salvador Dalí, famous for his surrealist work, painted Self portrait as Mona Lisa in 1954.[61] In 1963 following the painting's visit to the United States, Andy Warhol created serigraph prints of multiple Mona Lisas called Thirty are Better than One, like his works of Marilyn Monroe (Twenty-five Coloured Marilyns, 1962), Elvis Presley (1964) and Campbell's soup (1961–1962).[62]

See also


  1. ^ John Lichfield, The Moving of the Mona Lisa, The Independent, 2005-04-02 (Retrieved 9 March 2012)
  3. ^ Cohen, Philip (23 June 2004). "Noisy secret of Mona Lisa's". New Scientist. Retrieved 27 April 2008. 
  4. ^ a b "Mona Lisa – Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo". Musée du Louvre. Retrieved 11 March 2012. 
  5. ^ a b Italian: Prese Lionardo a fare per Francesco del Giocondo il ritratto di mona Lisa sua moglie(Vasari 1879, p. 39)
  6. ^ a b Clark, Kenneth (March 1973). "Mona Lisa". The Burlington Magazine (vol 115 ed.) 115 (840): 144–151. ISSN 0007-6287. JSTOR 877242. 
  7. ^ a b "Mona Lisa – Heidelberg discovery confirms identity". University of Heidelberg. Retrieved 4 July 2010. 
  8. ^ "German experts crack the ID of ‘Mona Lisa’". MSN. 14 January 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2008. [dead link]
  10. ^ a b c d (Kemp 2006, pp. 261–262)
  11. ^ Farago 1999, p. 123
  12. ^ a b (Bartz 2006, p. 626)
  13. ^ a b Stites, Raymond S. (January 1936). "Mona Lisa—Monna Bella". Parnassus (vol 8 ed.) (College Art Association) 8 (1): 7–10, 22–23. doi:10.2307/771197. JSTOR 771197. 
  14. ^ a b c Littlefield 1914, p. 525
  15. ^ a b c (Wilson 2000, pp. 364–366)
  16. ^ a b Debelle, Penelope (25 June 2004). "Behind that secret smile". The Age (Melbourne). Retrieved 6 October 2007. 
  17. ^ a b Johnston, Bruce (8 January 2004). "Riddle of Mona Lisa is finally solved: she was the mother of five". The Daily Telegraph (UK). Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2007. 
  19. ^ a b Nicholl, Charles (28 March 2002). "The myth of the Mona Lisa". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 6 October 2007. 
  20. ^ Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. (2005). An Age of Voyages, 1350–1600. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 26. ISBN 0-19-517672-3. 
  21. ^ Henry Thomas and Dana Lee Thomas, Living biographies of great painters, Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., 1940, p.49.
  24. ^ "Theft of the Mona Lisa". Stoner Productions via Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Retrieved 24 October 2009. 
  25. ^ a b "Top 25 Crimes of the Century: Stealing the Mona Lisa, 1911". TIME. 2 December 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2007. [dead link]
  26. ^ The Lost Mona Lisa by R. A. Scotti (Random House, 2010)
  27. ^ "Faces of the week". BBC. 29 September 2006. Retrieved 27 April 2008. 
  28. ^ "Mona FAQ". Mona Lisa Mania. Retrieved 12 August 2009. 
  30. ^ "Mona Lisa attacked by Russian woman". Xinhua News Agency. 12 August 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2009. 
  32. ^ "E.H. Gombrich, ''The Story of Art''". Retrieved 2013-06-03. 
  33. ^ Farago 1999, p. 372
  34. ^ "The Mona Lisa (La Gioconda)". BBC. 25 October 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2009. 
  35. ^ (Turudich 2003, p. 198)
  36. ^ McMullen, Roy (1976). Mona Lisa: The Picture and the Myth. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-333-19169-2. 
  37. ^ Holt, Richard (22 October 2007). "Solved: Why Mona Lisa doesn't have eyebrows". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 11 March 2010. 
  39. ^ a b Heliana Angotti Salgueiro, Paisaje y arte, University of São Paulo, 2000, p. 74. ISBN 85-901430-1-5
  41. ^ The Times, [1] retrieved 22 January 2014
  42. ^ a b c d e f g Mohen, Jean-Pierre (2006). Mona Lisa: inside the Painting. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. p. 128. ISBN 0-8109-4315-8. 
  43. ^ "Ageing Mona Lisa worries Louvre". BBC News. 26 April 2004. Retrieved 24 October 2009. 
  44. ^ "Biographical index of collectors of pastels". Retrieved 2013-06-03. 
  45. ^ "Mona Lisa gains new Louvre home". BBC. 6 April 2005. Retrieved 27 April 2008. 
  46. ^ Fontoynont, Marc et al. "Lighting Mona Lisa with LEDs" Note. SBI / Aalborg University, June 2013.
  47. ^ "Nippon Television Network Corporation". 6 April 2005. Retrieved 21 November 2010. 
  48. ^ "Decoding The Hyde Collection’s Mona Lisa". The Hyde Collection. Retrieved 10 August 2013. 
  49. ^ Sassoon, Donald. "Why is the Mona Lisa Famous?". La Trobe University Podcast. Retrieved 20 January 2014. 
  50. ^ a b c Sassoon, Donald (2001). "Mona Lisa: the Best-Known Girl in the Whole Wide World". History Workshop Journal (vol 2001 ed.) (Oxford University Press) 2001 (51): 1. doi:10.1093/hwj/2001.51.1. ISSN 1477-4569. 
  52. ^ Gentleman, Amelia (19 October 2004). "Smile, please". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 13 October 2007. 
  53. ^ Riding, Alan (6 April 2005). "In Louvre, New Room With View of 'Mona Lisa'". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 October 2007. 
  56. ^ Young (ed.), Mark (1999). The Guinness Book of World Records 1999. Bantam Books. p. 381. ISBN 0-553-58075-2. 
  57. ^ Leonard, Tom. "£160m Cézanne: Highest price for a painting as Qatari royal family trumps world dealers for The Card Players". Daily Mail (London). 
  58. ^ "Six Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1790 to Present". Measuring Worth. Retrieved 9 August 2013. 
  59. ^ Jones, Jonathan (26 May 2001). "L.H.O.O.Q., Marcel Duchamp (1919)". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 12 June 2009. 
  62. ^ Sassoon, Donald (2003). Becoming Mona Lisa. Harvest Books via Amazon Search Inside. p. 251. ISBN 0-15-602711-9. 


External video
Leonardo's "Mona Lisa", Smarthistory

External links