Eng-130.

5

Mona Lisa

Kaisha Murphy

Institution Affiliation

English130,38 Literature

Professor-Clinton hale

7/18/2021

One of the world's most expensive and famous paintings is the Mona Lisa painting, dating back to 1503 during the High Renaissance. The Mona Lisa painting holds the Guinness World Record of the most insured in history at 100million US dollars in 1962, which equals $870 million US dollars in 2021. The painting is a property of the French Republic on display at the Louver in Paris after King Francis I of Francis had acquired it. Leonardo da Vinci painted Francisco del Giocondo for his wife, Lisa del Giocondo (Zollner, 2014, 1). The painting is a half-length portrait of (77*53cm/ 30*21 inches) in an oil-on-poplar panel. The poplar support for the Mona Lisa painting contracts and expands according to humidity; it has been framed with a stretchy oak with beech pieces and allows for movement during the celebration of Leonardo's birthday.

The Mona Lisa is a description of an ideal woman during the Italian Renaissance period. Mona Lisa is sitting vertical in a bozzetto wingchair folding arms, a symbol of her kept nature. The woman's gaze is fixed on something in front of her. Leonardo made the woman appear lively by not outlining her face like some of the paintings during his time. Two main ambiguous features make the Mona Lisa unique the corners of her eyes and the corner of her mouth, which form a smile. “In the piece by Leonardo, there is a smile very attractive which is a thing more divine than human to behold held as something marvelous, but it was not alive” (Zollner, 2014, 4). The woman in the painting is seated in something that looks to be an open verandah with dark columns on either side. Behind her, there is an imaginary landscape with mountains with icy tops, snaking paths and a bridge in the distance. Leonardo aligns the landscape with the woman’s eyes demonstrating the mysterious nature of the painting.

Leonardo da Vinci is the painter of the Mona Lisa painting ad one of his famous and most valued pieces. He was active in painting, drawing, engineering, architecture, scientist, theorist and sculptor. Leonardo was born to Ser Piero from Vinci and Caterina in 1452 in a hill town known as Vinci, 20 miles away from Florence. Leonardo is also famous or known for his journals, where he wrote about anatomy, botany, astronomy, cartography, paleontology, and painting. He was a student of a great painter and sculptor in Florence known as Andrea del Verrocchio. Leonardo worked in Milan, Florence and Rome, attracting several imitators and students. Leonardo is also known for his inventions and technological mind, where he invented the flying machine, harnessed solar power, developed the armored type machine, and a double hull. He drew machines with unparalleled mastery developing the first modern technical drawing that represented its inner functioning. Leonardo also studied the human body drawing their anatomy in skeleton form, studying the mechanical functions of the skeleton leading to the development of modern biomechanics.

Her dark brown eyes complement,

her rich chocolate hair

But the tight-lipped smile

Spread thinly across her face

Hold an ocean of mystery.

Her hands folded over each other,

Forming a triangle posture,

from her elbows up.

Covered in earthly sheets

Of colors amber, gold and brown.

Behind her, a landscape of icy mountains,

A bridge in the distant and

Winding paths, slight human presence.

The colors sore to the eye to,

Illuminate the mysterious woman.

Reference

Zöllner, Frank. (1993). Leonardo's Portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo. http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/157/1/Zoellner_GBA_93.pdf