iny numbers and letters have been discovered painted into the eyes of the Mona Lisa prompting an investigation by art historians. Members of Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage say the letters and numbers can be seen when magnifying high resolution images of the Mona Lisa’a eyes, the Daily Mail reports. “To the naked eye the symbols are not visible but with a magnifying glass they can clearly be seen,” Silvano Vinceti, president of the Committee, was quoted as saying. “In the right eye appear to be the letters LV which could well stand for his name Leonardo Da Vinci while in the left eye there are also symbols but they are not as defined.” It is very difficult to make them out clearly but they appear to be the letters CE or it could be the letter B – you have to remember the picture is almost 500 years old so it is not as sharp and clear as when first painted.”While in the arch of the bridge in the background the number 72 can be seen or it could be an L and the number 2.” The discovery of a 50-year-old book in an antique shop was the catalyst for the discovery of the symbols. “We are only at the start of this investigation and we hope to be able to dig deeper into this mystery and reveal further details as soon as possible,” Mr Vinceti told the Daily Mail. “It’s remarkable that no-one has noticed these symbols before and from the preliminary investigations we have carried out we are confident they are not a mistake and were put there by the artist.” Mr Vincetti has travelled to Paris to examine the painting where it is on display in the Louvre. For sure there is no people who don’t know Mona Lisa. Anyway, for those who need to refresh their mind, we remember you that Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda or La Joconde) is a 16th-century portrait painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci during the Renaissance in Florence, Italy. The work is currently owned by the Government of France and is on display at the Musée du Louvre in Paris under the title Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo. The painting is a half-length portrait and depicts a seated woman (it is almost unanimous that she is Lisa del Giocondo) whose facial expression is frequently described as enigmatic. The ambiguity of the subject’s expression, the monumentality of the composition, and the subtle modelling of forms and atmospheric illusionism were novel qualities that have contributed to the continuing fascination and study of the work. The image is so widely recognized, caricatured, and sought out by visitors to the Louvre that it is considered the most famous painting in the world.
Leonardo Da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503 or 1504 in Italy. According to Da Vinci’s contemporary, Giorgio Vasari, “…after he had lingered over it four years, left it unfinished….” It is known that such behavior is common in most paintings of Leonardo who, later in his life, regretted “never having completed a single work”. He is thought to have continued to work on Mona Lisa for three years after he moved to France and to have finished it shortly before he died in 1519. Leonardo took the painting from Italy to France in 1516 when King François I invited the painter to work at the Clos Lucé near the king’s castle in Amboise. Most likely through the heirs of Leonardo’s assistant Salai, the king bought the painting for 4,000 écus and kept it at Château Fontainebleau, where it remained until given to Louis XIV. Louis XIV moved the painting to the Palace of Versailles. After the French Revolution, it was moved to the Louvre. Napoleon I had it moved to his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace; later it was returned to the Louvre. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) it was moved from the Louvre to the Brest Arsenal. There has been much speculation regarding the painting’s model and landscape. For example, that 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.” Some specialists in Chinese art, such as Yukio Yashiro, also argue that the landscape in the background of the picture was influenced by Chinese paintings, however this thesis has been contested for lack of clear evidence. Despite these arguments, it is known that Leonardo made some sketches before starting the picture. Mona Lisa was not well known until the mid-19th century when artists of the emerging Symbolist movement began to appreciate it, and associated it with their ideas about feminine mystique. Critic Walter Pater, in his 1867 essay on Leonardo, expressed this view by describing the figure in the painting as a kind of mythic embodiment of eternal femininity, who is “older than the rocks among which she sits” and who “has been dead many times and learned the secrets of the grave.” Mona Lisa is named for Lisa del Giocondo, a member of the Gherardini family of Florence and Tuscany and the wife of wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. The painting was commissioned for their new home and to celebrate the birth of their second son, Andrea. The sitter’s identity was ascertained at the University of Heidelberg in 2005 by a library expert who discovered a 1503 margin note written by Agostino Vespucci.
Scholars have been of many minds, identifying at least four different paintings as the Mona Lisa and several people as its subject. Leonardo’s mother Caterina Buti del Vacca in a distant memory, Isabella of Naples or Aragon, Cecilia Gallerani, Costanza d’Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla who was also called the “merry one” or La Gioconda, Isabella d’Este, Pacifica Brandano or Brandino, Isabela Gualanda, Caterina Sforza, and Leonardo himself have all been named the sitter. Today the subject’s identity is held to be Lisa, which has always been the traditional view. A margin note by Agostino Vespucci from October 1503 in a book in the library of the University of Heidelberg identifies Lisa del Giocondo as the model of Mona Lisa.The painting’s title stems from a description by Giorgio Vasari in his biography of Leonardo published in 1550, 31 years after the artist’s death. “Leonardo undertook to paint, for Francesco del Giocondo, the portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife….” (one version in Italian: Prese Lionardo a fare per Francesco del Giocondo il ritratto di mona Lisa sua moglie). In Italian, madonna means my lady. This became Madonna, and its contraction Mona. Mona is thus a polite form of address, similar to Ma’am, Madam, or my lady in English. In modern Italian, the short form of Madonna is usually spelled Monna, so the title is sometimes Monna Lisa, rarely in English and more commonly in Romance languages such as French and Italian. At his death in 1525, Leonardo’s assistant Salai owned the portrait named in his personal papers la Gioconda which had been bequeathed to him by the artist. Italian for jocund, happy or jovial, Gioconda was a nickname for the sitter, a pun on the feminine form of her married name Giocondo and her disposition. Detail of the background Leonardo used a pyramid design to place the woman simply and calmly in the space of the painting. Her folded hands form the front corner of the pyramid. Her breast, neck and face glow in the same light that models her hands. The light gives the variety of living surfaces an underlying geometry of spheres and circles. Leonardo referred to a seemingly simple formula for seated female figure: the images of seated Madonna, which were widespread at the time. He effectively modified this formula in order to create the visual impression of distance between the sitter and the observer. The armrest of the chair functions as a dividing element between Mona Lisa and the viewer.
The woman sits markedly upright with her arms folded, which is also a sign of her reserved posture. Only her gaze is fixed on the observer and seems to welcome them to this silent communication. Since the brightly lit face is practically framed with various much darker elements (hair, veil, shadows), the observer’s attraction to Mona Lisa’s face is brought to even greater extent. Thus, the composition of the figure evokes an ambiguous effect: we are attracted to this mysterious woman but have to stay at a distance as if she were a divine creature. There is no indication of an intimate dialogue between the woman and the observer as is the case in the Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (Louvre) painted by Raphael about ten years after Mona Lisa, and undoubtedly influenced by Leonardo’s portrait. Detail of Lisa’s hands, her right hand resting on her left. Leonardo chose this gesture rather than a wedding ring to depict Lisa as a virtuous woman and faithful wife. The painting was among the first portraits to depict the sitter before an imaginary landscape and Leonardo was one of the first painters to use aerial perspective. The enigmatic woman is portrayed seated in what appears to be an open loggia with dark pillar bases on either side. Behind her a vast landscape recedes to icy mountains. Winding paths and a distant bridge give only the slightest indications of human presence. The sensuous curves of the woman’s hair and clothing, created through sfumato, are echoed in the undulating imaginary valleys and rivers behind her. The blurred outlines, graceful figure, dramatic contrasts of light and dark, and overall feeling of calm are characteristic of Leonardo’s style. Owing to the expressive synthesis that Leonardo achieved between sitter and landscape it is arguable whether Mona Lisa should be considered as a traditional portrait, for it represents an ideal rather than a real woman. The sense of overall harmony achieved in the painting especially apparent in the sitter’s faint smile reflects the idea of a link connecting humanity and nature. Mona Lisa has no visible facial hair not even eyebrows and eyelashes. Some researchers claim that it was common at this time for genteel women to pluck them out, since they were considered to be unsightly. In 2007, French engineer Pascal Cotte announced that his ultra high resolution scans of the painting provide evidence that Mona Lisa was originally painted with eyelashes and eyebrows, but that these had gradually disappeared over time, perhaps as a result of over cleaning. For modern viewers the missing eyebrows add to the slightly semi-abstract quality of the face. Recently, scientists have been able to determine through X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry how Da Vinci created the Mona Lisa’s almost flawless skin tones using micro thin glazes; a technique known as sfumato. Although the sitter has traditionally been identified as Lisa del Giocondo, a lack of definitive evidence has long fuelled alternative theories, including the possibility that Leonardo used his own likeness. Other aspects of the painting that have been subject to speculation are the original size of the painting, whether it is the original, why it was painted, and various explanations for how the effect of an enigmatic smile was achieved.
