Speculations about Mona Lisa Speculations about Mona Lisa The 16th-century portrait Mona Lisa, or "La Gioconda" ("La Joconde"), painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo da Vinci, has been the subject of a considerable deal of speculation. It has for a long time been argued that after Leonardo's death the painting was cut down by having part of the panel at both sides removed. Early copies depict columns on both sides of the figure. Only the edges of the bases can be seen in the original. However, some art historians, such as Martin Kemp, now argue that the painting has not been
Leonardo da Vinci, A Memory of His Childhood Leonardo da Vinci, A Memory of His Childhood Leonardo da Vinci and A Memory of His Childhood () is a 1910 essay by Sigmund Freud about Leonardo da Vinci. It consists of a psychoanalytic study of Leonardo's life based on his paintings. In the Codex Atlanticus Leonardo recounts being attacked as an infant in his crib by a bird. Freud cite the passage as: According to Freud, this was a childhood fantasy based on the memory of sucking his mother's nipple. He backed up his claim with the fact that Egyptian hieroglyphs represent the mother as a vulture, because the