Mona LisaPainted by Leonado da Vinci
c. 1503
now in the Louvre
Oil on Poplar
Video on the mona lisa:
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Video series on Leonardo da Vinci:
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Relevant Course Articles:
- The Beauty of Woman: Problems in the History of Renaissance Portraiture
- The Renaissance Portrait: From Resemblance to Representation
- What Men Saw: Vasari's Life of Leonardo da Vinci and the Image of the Renaissance Artist
,George Boas,Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Apr., 1940), pp. 207-224,Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press,Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2707333
Notes:
- painted in the relatively new medium of oil
- Oil paint had helped Leonardo gain status as an artist and kick-started his career
- He had painted an angel in one of Verocchio's works and gained a reputation as an artist
- refer to vasari's article and the description of hyperbole and its role in inspiring imitation
- for information on the sfumato in the Mona Lisa refer to this article ( http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/1577726.pdf)
- The sfumato is said to produce feelings of discomfort in viewers and to make them beleive that the painting is real (Conde)
- Conde asserts that the face takes on different expressions in moderate lighting due to the moderate lighting in a museum and the plasticity of the sfumato technique
- The first name of the painting was La honda
- Rubin asserts that Vasari's description of Leonardo was similar to Castiglione's ideal courtier
- usually considered wife of Francesco del Giacondo - no evidence to its intention as an allegory although the background does not rule this out
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete- not in the profile, has her hair done --> but is not a marriage portrait
ReplyDelete- relates to the idea of beauty in painting. Not necessarily about the beauty of the person depicted which is important, but the beauty of painting itself
- represents an ideal, rather than an actual woman... thus playing with the idea of the Renaissance regarding portrait depiction as being inaccurate and misleading
- part of a changing convention in medium
- Giacondo was a silk merchant, part of a wealthy family from Tuscany and Florence
- uses triangular composition, highlighted by the "golden ratio"
- uses aerial perspective, imaginary landscape in the background
- blurred outlines, graceful figure, dramatic contrasts of light and dark, and overall feeling of calm are characteristic of Leonardo's style
George