Tag Archives: Mona Lisa

Four Women of the Renaissance

5 January 2025 By in Art, Biography, History, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Leonardo da Vinci, who died on May 2, 1519 at the age of 67, began around 40 paintings in his lifetime, of which fewer than 20 survive. Of those that survive, only about 15 are believed to be complete.

The artist painted only four known portraits of women:

  • Ginevra de’ Benci at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
  • La Belle Ferronnière at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
  • Mona Lisa also at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
  • Cecilia Gallerani (known as “Lady with an Ermine“) at the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland.

Cecilia Gallerani was the mistress of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, and was painted while da Vinci worked in the Duke’s court in Milan, Italy. The Polish government paid 100 million Euros for the painting in 2016.

Trivia: Many believe that Leonardo da Vinci continuously reworked the Mona Lisa throughout his life; it was still in his possession when he died. The fact that the Mona Lisa does not have eyebrows suggests, to me, that the painting was still unfinished. The absence of eyebrows in the Mona Lisa has led to other theories as well:

  • Others argue that da Vinci might have intentionally left them out for artistic reasons.
  • There’s also the theory that the eyebrows might have faded over time due to the varnish or other conservation issues.

Source: Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson, 2017. Graphic: Lady with and Ermine by da Vinci, public domain.

Mona Lisa Eyes

25 March 2024 By in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment 
Her hair is Harlow gold
Her lips sweet surprise
Her hands are never cold
She's got Bette Davis eyes

Bette Davis Eyes. By Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon

In 1503 Leonardo da Vinci ended his association with the murdering and duplicitous Cesare Borgia, meaning he was again without a patron or in today’s vernacular; unemployed and without income. Likely, through a paternal connection, familial duty, and the need for money, he agreed to take a commission from a silk merchant to paint his 24-year-old wife: Lisa del Giocondo nee Gherardini.

He posed her in a seated, half-length, unconventional three-quarter portrait view with a typical Leonardo background of winding rivers, mountains, and misty sky. Her enigmatic smile and follow-you-anywhere eyes are the subject of endless discussions and debates. He employed his now famous, delicate blending of colors with soft edges; “sfumato”, and his almost transparent layering to create what is now considered the archetypical Renaissance art form, and the world’s most famous and valuable painting. Some estimates place the value of the painting somewhere north of one billion dollars.

In predictable fashion, Leonardo never finished the painting. He began the painting in 1503, as confirmed by a margin note in a book dated to that year, and continued working on it until he died in France in 1519 at the age of 67. If you look closely at the painting, you will notice that Lisa does not have any eyebrows or eyelashes although modern science has detected them as being originally there. It is believed that they were removed over time by repeated cleanings, but it is just as likely Leonardo overpainted them with the intent of painting them back on at some later date.

The painting is now on display in the Louvre, having been purchased by the King of France, Francois I, Leonardo’s final patron, shortly after the painter’s death.

Source: Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. Published 2017.

Painting from Wikipedia. Public Domain