Chasing Mona Lisa - Assignment Example

?Picture of Mona Lisa: Source: (Pioch) A picture is worth a thousand words. If it were true for any picture, it could be not truer than this very picture of Mona Lisa. The portrait of Mona Lisa is one of the most talked over and intriguing pictures that has been center of attraction for people over many centuries. It has become an important part of Western art culture, and many artists’ research surrounds around it and, hence, it is an essential piece of art in modern times. Often termed as the universal icon of painting all over the world. It is present at the Louvre Museum at Paris. This very museum is famous for collection of all very old and rare pieces of art. Proper security measures are available to ensure that the picture remains safe since there has been a history of stealing and damage being caused to this picture in the past. The painter himself, Leonardo Di Vinci, lived in Europe, Italy, and is world renown for his paintings all over the world. In his pieces of art, he usually made use of the natural angles, proportions and various patterns that gave him an edge over other painters of his time. This is one of the many pieces of arts that has been gifted to the world by the genius. Every angle of the picture holds some interest for the students of art and has led to various assumptions on each angle. For example, in case of eye brows, it is being often said that they were removed unintentionally during the course of art making. A scrupulous review of the picture reveals that there is hardly any hair on the face, the only one that can be detected is probably through the employment of single use of the brush. Regarding the subject of picture, the lady herself, on many occasions is being termed as a lady named Lisa Gherardini (Klein 15), who was born in the late XV century and the painter did not even give the portrait to her just because he was totally obsessed with the art that he had crafted. The face expression has held attention of many over number of years through decades. The background of the picture equally compliments the facial expressions and beauty surrounding the face. Many pieces of his art were incomplete, however due to his personal interest and fascination of the subject of the picture, the incumbent brought it to the level of perfection that has many in intrigue. Though exact date of this picture is unknown, yet it is being believed that picture sketching took place somewhere in the early days of the XVI century (between 1503 and 1506) (Goyer and Yorkey 210). The lady on the picture is often named as La Gioconda. It is being said that the entire portrait took nearly three years to reach the final point of completion, or the point where it is today. From the subject point of view, there is mystery all over the face of the lady. It is being considered as a real mystery for number of reasons. Umpteen amounts of mysteries and stories are attached to it, while some specialists are not sure about the gender, others term it as unresolved, others term it as self portrait while the few of the rest term it as the picture of his wife. To another opinion, she was the wife of a Florence citizen named Francesco Del Gioconda (Cremante 236). The timings attributed to this picture are late afternoon onwards when the natural light would spark at a little low intensity which matched the requirements for portrait sketching perfectly. It is also being said that the painter himself, Leonardo Di Vinci, fell in love not just with the painting but the model in picture. Many have it that he used to carry this portrait along with himself and during the course of its sketching, music and peaceful environment were always in the background to bring the best and most natural expressions out of his subject. Considering its importance and value in the field of arts, it has been stolen number of times, however, on all occasions it was recovered. One of those attempts was made by a person named Vincenzo Peruggia (Crispino 106) early in the XX century .The man was the employee at the very place and it took a while knowing that the masterpiece had been stolen. Being a piece of world art, efforts were being made to ensure that the painting does not go beyond the border and borders were sealed for this reason, however after two years it was recovered from Florence . There is slight damage done to the picture which took place in 1956 when a visitor for unknown reasons threw a stone at the picture and damaged one side of the picture. The person’s name was Ugo Ungaza (Miletic 121). It mesmerized not only the painter himself but the people around it, and more so the ruling elites at that time, King Frances is believed to have paid certain amount for its acquisition; however, he had to wait till specific period of time until the artist’s demise. This picture even made it to the bedroom of the world famous French general and ruler Napoleon Bonaparte and was a permanent part of his bed room wall. Even before him, this picture remained in the custody of the French highups and emperors. Though there is strong restriction over its passage across the borders, yet it had been past the borders on two occasions, one undesirable and one that marked its essence and spoke of its value. It the former case, it was stolen and later found across the border, while in the latter, it was sent to the United States of America as part of good will gesture and as a guest for limited number of days (College 6). Even the Americans are driven away by this piece of mystery and the maestro’s crafting abilities. Works Cited Cremante, Simona. Leonardo Da Vinci. Giunti Editore, 2005.Print. Crispino, Enrica. Leonardo. Giunti Editore, 2002. Print. Goyer, Tricia and Mike Yorkey. Chasing Mona Lisa: A Novel. Baker Books, 2012. Print. Klein, Stefan. Leonardo's Legacy: How Da Vinci Reimagined the World. Da Capo Press, 2010. Print. Miletic, Tijana. European Literary Immigration Into the French Language: Readings of Gary, Kristof, Kundera and Semprun. Rodopi, 2008. Print. Pioch, Nicolas. Leonardo da Vinci. 19th June 2006. Web. 25 Jul. 2012 http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vinci/joconde/ Sura College of Competition. Junior Knowledge Book. Sura Books, 2004. Print. Read More