Introduction

The Mona Lisa. The brilliant, illustrious Mona Lisa. Hung up in the Louvre ever since 1797, painted by the Italian great Leonardo da Vinci during the Renaissance period. This oil painting is perhaps the most well-known art piece in the world. It 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". But have you ever wondered, why? Why has it gained popularity ever since? Causing so many people all over the world travel to Paris just to see this piece of art, why does it deserve this fame?

The Start of Everything

To answer these questions, we have to go all the way back to 1503, when the second son of Francesco and Lisa del Giocondo, Andrea, was born. To celebrate his birth, and for decoration for the Giocondos family, it is thought that Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to paint the Mona Lisa for them. That is why, it is widely speculated by many that the Mona Lisa is in fact Lisa del Giocondo. Therefore, an alternative name of the Mona Lisa is La Gioconda.

It is unclear how long it took da Vinci to paint the Mona Lisa, but it is believed that he started around 1503. This is because after his death in 1519, the painting was found in his studio. The French king at the time, Francis I, ruling France from 1515 until 1547, was a passionate collector of Italian art. Francis I got hold of the artwork, as da Vinci was living in his court at the time of his death. For the next 2.5 centuries, it has been in the possession of royals.

Then, during the French Revolution, revolutionaries claimed the artwork as property for themselves, which then was given over to Napoleon for a brief few years. Finally, it has been sitting in the Louvre ever since the end of the 18th century, 1797.

Well… not really. You see, the painting was stolen at one point, by an Italian man who goes by the name of Vincenzo Peruggia.

the greatest art theft of the 20th century

Born on 8 October 1881, in Varese, Italy, Vincenzo moved to France in 1908. There, he got a job at none other than the Louvre as a handyman. His job consisted of two things, cleaning paintings and reframing paintings. But, he also did something else for the Louvre. Something that made “the greatest art theft of the 20th century” very easy for Vincenzo. He helped the Louvre design the glass case the Mona Lisa was kept in. So robbing things where he worked at was a piece of cake.

There are conflicting accounts on how Vincenzo stole the masterpiece, but it is commonly believed that in the morning of 21 August 1911, a seemingly casual Monday morning, Vincenzo walked into the Louvre. When the Salon Carré, a famous room in the Louvre where the Mona Lisa was kept, went empty, Vincenzo seized the opportunity and took the painting, and the rest is history. And as the Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper reported 'one of the most famous pictures in the world, and Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, vanished from the Louvre on Monday, and not a trace of its whereabouts has been found.’

For the next 2 years, people tirelessly searched for the La Gioconda, but it was stored in a box in Vincenzo Peruggia’s apartment, who brought the painting back to Florence, Italy.

However, Vincenzo grew impatient, and decided to contact a man named Mario Fratelli, an owner of an art gallery in Italy. He expected a handsome reward, but instead, Fratelli called in Giovanni Poggi to authenticate the painting. Once it was authenticated, the two men lied to Vincenzo, saying that they were safekeeping the Mona Lisa, then contacted authorities to get Vincenzo arrested. As to why Vincenzo did it, well he probably did it for money, and to return the painting to its homeland of Italy. Afterall, the Mona Lisa was painted by an Italian.

So there you go, the Mona Lisa became a worldwide sensation because of Vincenzo Peruggia, who perpetrated “the greatest art theft of the 20th century”. 

great? or not so great?

Sfumato

Back in the days when Mona Lisa was painted, complicated mediums did not exist. Paints are created by mixing pigments and oil, as simple as that. When oil-paints were not developed as saturated and mixed thoroughly as the current factory-made ones, thin layers of paint had to go on top of each other to create smooth blending and shadows This created sfumato, an Italian word which translates to nuanced and faded-away.

Well, yes indeed, Leonardo da Vinci had spent countless years innovating in this technique, creating other masterpiece like Virgin of the Rocks and La Scapigliata, both painting demonstrates da Vinci's skill in using the sfumato technique to model the form and features. A while later he successfully pioneered his well-known art style sfumato, creating the Mona Lisa.

The Two versions of the vrigin of the rocks (1483–1486)

Especially the La Scapigliata, with the limited space, Leonardo da Vinci depicted the image of a unkempt woman emphazing the waving hair of the subject; thus bringing emotions of the women to life.

If you look closer at the facial features of the Mona Lisa, you can see colors on the edges blurred to create a soft visual effect which helps the object create a three-dimensional illusion with light and dark. However, a sharp image around the eyes and a distinct shadow of the eyelids and the crease proves his cleverness. This creates a distinct focus point for the human eye to look at, then you would start looking around her eyes, but never will extend beyond the focus plane and lose focus of her eyes, like how a modern camera focuses on an object, or simply, our human eye.

chiaroscuro

The painting of Mona Lisa enhances the effects of chiaroscuro, from Italian chiaro, “light,” and scuro, “dark”. It is a painting technique which uses strong contrasts between light and shadow to create a sense of depth, volume, and drama. You can observe the direction of the lighting immediately because Mona Lisa is illuminated from the left side, creating distinct shadows on the right side of her face and body. This directional lighting highlights the contours and three-dimensionality of her features. Additionally, her face is carefully modeled with light on the forehead, nose, and cheekbones, while shadows accentuate the eye sockets, nostrils, and corners of the mouth. This interplay of light and shadow gives her features a striking, almost sculptural quality of the image. The use of the darkest dark in the hair and the lightest light in the skin create distinct contrast, serving as a pioneer for the exaggerated dramatic lighting in Baroque Arts, a man far beyond his time.

Purpose

His use of oil painting technique allowed him to achieve depth and intensity of coloring, transparency in the effects of light and shade; showing the effects of light shone on curved surfaces. Leonardo da Vinci perfected the technique of sfumato; without using lines or borders, created the aesthetic of vanishing smoke on the canvas panel.

For the painting’s background, seeing the remarkability it has. Da Vinci employed the techniques of perspective, having a comparatively colorful landscape especially when previous Renaissance portraits tended to have plain backgrounds. He used subtle gradients of color tones, creating a unified and harmonious painting. Da Vinci is believed to have used a soft brush to make distant objects appear more hazy and foggy, which helps create a sense of depth and distance in the landscape. This helps to blend the human figure into the composition, draw the viewer's attention into the painting, and expressing his own emotions. 

Conclusion

It is no doubt that the Mona Lisa has a rich history, weathering through centuries of war and thievery. Dubbed “the best known” artwork in the world, it is a masterpiece in its own right, with advanced painting techniques that pioneered the Renaissance period. So next time you see the Mona Lisa, don’t just look at those dazzling eyes but rather appreciate the Mona Lisa as a true piece of art.

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Introduction 

The Start of Everything 

The Greatest Art Theft of the 20th Century

Great? Or Not So Great? 

Conclusion