He and possibly two other workers had hidden in a closet overnight, taken the portrait from the wall the morning of August 21, 1911, and run off without suspicion. [67][c] According to Vasari, the painting was created for the model's husband, Francesco del Giocondo. The "Mona Lisa" painting is significantly smaller than common poster copies. [40], Research in 2008 by a geomorphology professor at Urbino University and an artist-photographer revealed likenesses of Mona Lisa's landscapes to some views in the Montefeltro region in the Italian provinces of Pesaro and Urbino, and Rimini. The Mona Lisa was then returned to the Louvre in 1913. "[109], Early commentators such as Vasari and André Félibien praised the picture for its realism, but by the Victorian era, writers began to regard the Mona Lisa as imbued with a sense of mystery and romance. [36] Cotte discovered the painting had been reworked several times, with changes made to the size of the Mona Lisa's face and the direction of her gaze. this painting was started in 1503 and ended in 1519. It is a painting of the same subject as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Leonardo began to be revered as a genius, and the painting's popularity grew in the mid-19th century when French intelligentsia praised it as mysterious and a representation of the femme fatale. [133], In 2014, a France 24 article suggested that the painting could be sold to help ease the national debt, although it was noted that the Mona Lisa and other such art works were prohibited from being sold due to French heritage law, which states that "Collections held in museums that belong to public bodies are considered public property and cannot be otherwise. The woman appears alive to an unusual extent, which Leonardo achieved by his method of not drawing outlines (sfumato). which means my lady in Italy. Did you know that “Mona Lisa” is not her real name? Yet this simple description of a seemingly standard composition gives little sense of Leonardo’s achievement. Updates? Walter Pater's famous essay of 1869 described the sitter as "older than the rocks among which she sits; like the vampire, she has been dead many times, and learned the secrets of the grave; and has been a diver in the deep seas, and keeps their fallen day about her. Her gaze is fixed on the observer. Leonardo, Carmen Bambach, Rachel Stern, and Alison Manges (2003). [6] The painting's novel qualities include the subject's enigmatic expression,[7] the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modelling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism. In 1906, Louvre restorer Eugène Denizard performed watercolour retouches on areas of the paint layer disturbed by the crack in the panel. About this we are now certain. There has been much speculation and debate regarding the identity of the portrait’s sitter. This flexible frame, which is used in addition to the decorative frame described below, exerts pressure on the panel to keep it from warping further. [31], The painting was one of the first portraits to depict the sitter in front of an imaginary landscape, and Leonardo was one of the first painters to use aerial perspective. "[63] It has never been fully restored,[97] so the current condition is partly due to a variety of conservation treatments the painting has undergone. The Mona Lisa (/ˌmoʊnə ˈliːsə/; Italian: Monna Lisa [ˈmɔnna ˈliːza] or La Gioconda [la dʒoˈkonda], French: La Joconde [la ʒɔkɔ̃d]) is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci that has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world". The title of the painting, which is known in English as Mona Lisa, comes 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. [19] 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 Lisa's married name, Giocondo. Apollinaire implicated his friend Pablo Picasso, who was brought in for questioning. It's also, at 21 inches by 30 inches, about the same size as most office break room posters. There has been much speculation and debate regarding the identity of the Mona Lisa’s sitter. The name Mona Lisa translate to the phrase, “My lady Lisa.” The medium of the portrait was an oil paint inscribed on a poplar panel. The museum attracts millions of visitors each year, most of whom come for the Mona Lisa, so a steady stream of revenue may be more lucrative in the long run than a single payment. [3] It was kept at the Palace of Fontainebleau until Louis XIV moved it to the Palace of Versailles, where it remained until the French Revolution. He had begun working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, the model of the Mona Lisa, by October 1503. [111] Upon the painting's theft in 1911, Renaissance historian Bernard Berenson admitted that it had "simply become an incubus, and [he] was glad to be rid of her. In 1985, the spot was again treated with carbon tetrachloride as a preventive measure. ", "New proof said found for "original" Mona Lisa –", "Mona Lisa: A Comparative Evaluation of the Different Versions and Their Copies", Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage, "Computer Studies of the Isleworth and Louvre Mona Lisas", Scientific analyses conducted by the Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France (C2RMF), Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci (Milan), Land grant to Marduk-apla-iddina I by Meli-Shipak II, Statue of the Tiber river with Romulus and Remus, Vulcan Presenting Venus with Arms for Aeneas, The Attributes of Civilian and Military Music, The Attributes of Music, the Arts and the Sciences, The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons, Coresus Sacrificing Himself to Save Callirhoe, Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa, Don Pedro of Toledo Kissing Henry IV's Sword, Joan of Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII, Portrait of Madame Marcotte de Sainte-Marie, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta Appraised by Dante and Virgil, Madonna and Child with Saint Peter and Saint Sebastian, Venus and the Three Graces Presenting Gifts to a Young Woman, A Young Man Being Introduced to the Seven Liberal Arts, Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page, The Doge on the Bucintoro near the Riva di Sant'Elena, Holy Family with the Family of St John the Baptist, Saints Bernardino of Siena and Louis of Toulouse, Madonna and Child with St John the Baptist and St Catherine of Alexandria, Madonna and Child with St Rose and St Catherine, Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Portrait of Doña Isabel de Requesens y Enríquez de Cardona-Anglesola, Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary, St John and St Mary Magdalene, The Archangel Raphael Leaving Tobias' Family, Pendant portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, Ixion, King of the Lapiths, Deceived by Juno, Who He Wished to Seduce, The Virgin and Child Surrounded by the Holy Innocents, Francis I, Charles V and the Duchess of Étampes, Street Scene near the El Ghouri Mosque in Cairo, Christopher Columbus Before the Council of Salamanca, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mona_Lisa&oldid=1005167665, Paintings of the Louvre by Italian artists, Articles containing Italian-language text, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from July 2019, Articles with dead external links from June 2016, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox artwork with the material parameter, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2014, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2016, Articles containing Spanish-language text, Articles with Encyclopædia Britannica links, CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown, Wikipedia articles with Joconde identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 6 February 2021, at 08:48. Raphael's Young Woman with Unicorn, c. 1506, Raphael's Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (c. 1514–15), Le rire (The Laugh) by Eugène Bataille, or Sapeck (1883), Jean Metzinger, 1911, Le goûter (Tea Time), oil on canvas, 75.9 x 70.2 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Marguerite Agniel "As Mona Lisa" by Robert Henri, c. 1929, Today the Mona Lisa is considered the most famous painting in the world, but until the 20th century it was simply one among many highly regarded artworks. Jennifer Rosenberg Updated July 17, 2019 On August 21, 1911, Leonardo da Vinci 's Mona Lisa, today one of the most famous paintings in the world, was stolen right off the wall of the Louvre. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall views Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" painting as she visits the Louvre Museum on May 28, 2013 in Paris France. This became madonna, and its contraction mona. He analyzed the painting in the Louvre with reflective light technology beginning in 2004, and produced circumstantial evidence for his theory. [62], The record of an October 1517 visit by Louis d'Aragon states that the Mona Lisa was executed for the deceased Giuliano de' Medici, Leonardo's steward at the Belvedere Palace between 1513 and 1516[65][66][b]—but this was likely an error. [87][88] In both cases, the painting was undamaged. Leonardo's assistant Salaì, at his death in 1524, owned a portrait which in his personal papers was named la Gioconda, a painting bequeathed to him by Leonardo. [90], In the early 21st century, French scientist Pascal Cotte hypothesized a hidden portrait underneath the surface of the painting. For centuries the portrait was secluded in French palaces, until insurgents claimed the royal collection as the property of the people during the French Revolution (1787–99). [74] By Leonardo da Vinci. Mona Lisa, also called Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, Italian La Gioconda, or French La Joconde, oil painting on a poplar wood panel by Leonardo da Vinci, probably the world’s most famous painting. [73] In 1797, it went on permanent display at the Louvre. Raphael, who had been to Leonardo's workshop several times, promptly used elements of the portrait's composition and format in several of his works, such as Young Woman with Unicorn (c. 1506),[108] and Portrait of Maddalena Doni (c. The insurance was not purchased; instead, more was spent on security. "[110], By the early 20th century, some critics started to feel the painting had become a repository for subjective exegeses and theories. It was painted sometime between 1503 and 1519, when Leonardo was living in Florence, and it now hangs in the Louvre Museum, Paris, where it remained an object of pilgrimage in the 21st century. It was exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery for over two weeks and returned to the Louvre on 4 January 1914. [135] The Prado's conclusion that the painting is probably by Salaì (1480–1524) or by Melzi (1493–1572) has been called into question by others. Inspired by Flemish painting conventions of the 1400s but with a different composition, the “Mona Lisa” influenced countless pieces of artwork in the centuries since its creation. Scholars and historians have posited numerous possibilities, including that she is Lisa del Giocondo (née Gherardini), wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo—hence the alternative title to the work, La Gioconda. She receives fan mail. The Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911 by an Italian employee known as Vincenzo Perugia. Mona Lisa. [57][56][69][70] Others believe that there was only one true Mona Lisa, but are divided as to the two aforementioned fates. During World War II the Mona Lisa, singled out as the most-endangered artwork in the Louvre, was evacuated to various locations in France’s countryside, returning to the museum in 1945 after peace had been declared. Painting: Mona Lisa Date: 1503-06 Artist: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Medium: Oil on wood In 2010, Silvano Vinceti, chairman of Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage, claimed to have discerned letters minutely painted on Mona Lisa’s eyes: L and V (Leonardo da Vinci’s initials) in the right eye, and perhaps C, E or B in the left. Mona's beguiling smile and her incredible realism have intrigued art lovers and critics for centuries, and virtually every portrait artist since da Vinci's time has studied the painting for insight into his approach to painting. [89] A new queuing system introduced in 2019 reduces the amount of time museum visitors have to wait in line to see the painting. would probably be so high that not one person would be able or willing to purchase and maintain the painting. Dated October 1503, the note was written by Leonardo's contemporary Agostino Vespucci. The delicately painted veil, the finely wrought tresses, and the careful rendering of folded fabric demonstrate Leonardo’s studied observations and inexhaustible patience. In 1909, the art collector Comtesse de Béhague gave the portrait its current frame,[101] 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. To prevent the widening of a small crack, visible near the centre of the upper edge of the painting, dovetails were added to the back of the painting. [75], In 1911, the painting was still not popular among the lay-public. "[123] While exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the painting was nearly drenched in water because of a faulty sprinkler, but the painting's bullet-proof glass case protected it. [82] Peruggia served six months in prison for the crime and was hailed for his patriotism in Italy. However, since its restoration in 2012, it is considered to have been executed by one of Leonardo's pupils in his studio at the same time as Mona Lisa was being painted. In 1952, the varnish layer over the background in the painting was evened out. [79] A year after the theft, Saturday Evening Post journalist Karl Decker met an alleged accomplice named Eduardo de Valfierno, who claimed to have masterminded the theft. [124], The 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa and its subsequent return was reported worldwide, leading to a massive increase in public recognition of the painting. A third suggestion was that the painting was, in fact, Leonardo’s self-portrait, given the resemblance between the sitter’s and the artist’s facial features. [99][100], The picture is kept under strict, climate-controlled conditions in its bulletproof glass case. [68] A number of experts have argued that Leonardo made two versions (because of the uncertainty concerning its dating and commissioner, as well as its fate following Leonardo's death in 1519, and the difference of details in Raphael's sketch—which may be explained by the possibility that he made the sketch from memory). [103] The renovation of the gallery where the painting now resides was financed by the Japanese broadcaster Nippon Television. Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" is one of the most famous works of Western art. Small cracks in the paint, called craquelure, appear throughout the whole piece, but they are finer on the hands, where the thinner glazes correspond to Leonardo’s late period. [55][56][57] Other later copies of the Mona Lisa, such as those in the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design and The Walters Art Museum, also display large flanking columns. Kelly Grovier explores an overlooked object that offers a different perspective on the masterpiece. [58][59][60][61] However, by 1993, Frank Zöllner observed that the painting surface had never been trimmed;[62] this was confirmed through a series of tests in 2004. [92][71] In 2020, Cotte published a study alleging that the canvas has a underdrawing, which seems to have been transferred from a preparatory drawing by depositing charcoal in tiny holes. … This might sound like a hoax, but really it isn’t … [45] Although the Louvre states that it was "doubtless painted between 1503 and 1506",[8] art historian Martin Kemp says that there are some difficulties in confirming the dates with certainty. Another theory was that the model may have been Leonardo’s mother, Caterina. The Mona Lisa was not included because it is in such great demand among visitors to the museum; the painting remained on display in its gallery. read more [116] According to Rhonda R. Shearer, the apparent reproduction is in fact a copy partly modelled on Duchamp's own face.[117]. During the 20th century it was an object for mass reproduction, merchandising, lampooning and speculation, and was claimed to have been reproduced in "300 paintings and 2,000 advertisements". Zollner gives a date of c. 1504, most others say c. 1506, CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (, Costanza d'Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, "The Mona Lisa's Twin Painting Discovered", "The Theft That Made Mona Lisa a Masterpiece", "Mona Lisa – Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo", "Mona Lisa – Heidelberger find clarifies identity", "Highest insurance valuation for a painting", "Mona Lisa – Heidelberg discovery confirms identity", "German experts crack the ID of 'Mona Lisa, "Riddle of Mona Lisa is finally solved: she was the mother of five", "Mona Lisa backdrop depicts Italian town of Bobbio, claims art historian", "Leonardo's Portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo", "Solved: Why Mona Lisa doesn't have eyebrows", "Lurking Beneath the 'Mona Lisa' May Be the Real One", "BBC NEWS – Entertainment – Mona Lisa smile secrets revealed", "Researchers identify landscape behind the Mona Lisa", "Da Vinci 'paralysis left Mona Lisa unfinished, "A Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci May Reveal Why He Never Finished the Mona Lisa", "Leonardo da Vinci never finished the Mona Lisa because he injured his arm while fainting, experts say", "Mona Lisa: A comparative evaluation of the different versions and copies", "Leonardo da Vinci's portrait of Mona Lisa de Giocondo", "The Theft That Made The 'Mona Lisa' A Masterpiece", "The French Burglar Who Pulled Off His Generation's Biggest Art Heist", "Top 25 Crimes of the Century: Stealing the Mona Lisa, 1911", "Review: The Lost Mona Lisa: The Extraordinary True Story of the Greatest Art Theft in History by RA Scotti", "100 Years Ago: The Mastermind Behind the Mona Lisa Heist | The Saturday Evening Post", "Russian tourist hurls mug at Mona Lisa in Louvre", "Will new Mona Lisa queuing system in restored Louvre gallery bring a smile back to visitors' faces? Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. [73] The Mona Lisa was not widely known outside the art world, but in the 1860s, a portion of the French intelligentsia began to hail it as a masterwork of Renaissance painting. [28] The woman sits markedly upright in a "pozzetto" armchair with her arms folded, a sign of her reserved posture. He likely worked on it intermittently over several years, … Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503, and it was in his studio when he died in 1519. For example, 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. Leonardo da Vinci undertook the task of painting the Mona Lisa, an oil painting on canvas, as a commission from Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy Florentine silk merchant. He also found that in one layer the subject was depicted wearing numerous hairpins and a headdress adorned with pearls which was later scrubbed out and overpainted. [129], In 1974, the painting was exhibited in Tokyo and Moscow. [141] It is a painting of the same subject as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. While the painting was famous before the theft, the notoriety it received from the newspaper headlines and the large scale police investigation helped the artwork become one of the best known in the world, gaining considerable public interest. "[125], 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.[126][127] It was shipped on the new ocean liner SS France. ...The Mona Lisa The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci was painted in Florence between 1503 and 1505. Some 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. The Mona Lisa is one of the most valuable paintings in the world. Iconic portrait of the Italian Renaissance, and one of the Greatest Paintings Ever. "[38] Some art historians in Eastern art, such as Yukio Yashiro, argue that the landscape in the background of the picture was influenced by Chinese paintings,[39] but this thesis has been contested for lack of clear evidence. Because of the way the human eye processes visual information, it is less suited to pick up shadows directly; however, peripheral vision can pick up shadows well. It became the definitive example of the Renaissance portrait and perhaps for this reason is seen not just as the likeness of a real person, but also as the embodiment of an ideal. The history of the Mona Lisa is shrouded in mystery. People flocked to the Louvre to view the empty space where the painting had once hung, the museum’s director of paintings resigned, and the poet Guillaume Apollinaire and artist Pablo Picasso were even arrested as suspects. [81] After having kept the Mona Lisa in his apartment for two years, Peruggia grew impatient and was caught when he attempted to sell it to Giovanni Poggi, director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. I t surely goes without saying that it is the most recognizable and famous painting… He likely worked on it intermittently over several years, adding multiple layers of thin oil glazes at different times. In response to warping and swelling experienced during its storage during World War II, and to prepare the picture for an exhibit to honour the anniversary of Leonardo's 500th birthday, the Mona Lisa was fitted in 1951 with a flexible oak frame with beech crosspieces. [84] The painting was protected by glass because a few years earlier a man who claimed to be in love with the painting had cut it with a razor blade and tried to steal it. And she's almost drowned in a sprinkler malfunction", "The Louvre, the most visited museum in the world (01.15)", "Culture – Could France sell the Mona Lisa to pay off its debts? French King Francis I, in whose court Leonardo spent the last years of his life, acquired the work after the artist’s death, and it became part of the royal collection. [106][107], The Mona Lisa began influencing contemporary Florentine painting even before its completion. [114][115], The avant-garde art world has made note of the Mona Lisa's undeniable popularity. [14], In response to the announcement of the discovery of this document, Vincent Delieuvin, the Louvre representative, stated "Leonardo da Vinci was painting, in 1503, the portrait of a Florentine lady by the name of Lisa del Giocondo. Moreover, the Louvre Museum would probably never sell it. ", "Second Mona Lisa Unveiled for First Time in 40 Years", "The Isleworth Mona Lisa: A second Leonardo masterpiece? For other uses, see, Vacant wall in the Louvre's Salon Carré after the painting was stolen in 1911. The sitter’s mysterious smile and her unproven identity have made the painting a source of ongoing investigation and fascination. The second, commissioned by Giuliano de' Medici circa 1513, would have been sold by Salaì to Francis I in 1518[d] and is the one in the Louvre today.