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
The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci from Nietzsche." Other detractors have spotted Nietzchean influences, particularly in that the author "valued will power higher than morality" and saw Arts as being beyond the good and the evil. Modern critic Oleg Mikhaylov saw the novel as marked by tendentiousness, being driven by one motif, that of inevitable resurrection of Antiquity's gods and values. The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci (, "Resurrected Gods. Leonardo da Vinci", in literal translation) is the second novel by Dmitry Merezhkovsky, first published in 1900 by "Mir Bozhy" magazine, then released as a separate edition 1901. The novel