Leonardo da Vinci Paintings – The Mona Lisa
The “Mona Lisa” is probably the most famous painting in the world.
Hanging in the Louvre gallery in Paris, it’s viewed by thousands of visitors each year.
It was undoubtedly painted by Leonardo and was done when he was at the peak of his talent. He began work on it in 1501, but did not finish until 1504, owing to interruptions.
Unfortunately, the Mona Lisa has suffered over the centuries from very poor cleaning and restoration work, leaving it now as a rather dull version of the original painting.
I have included two images of the Mona Lisa, which show a very different look.
The first image above, is a recent image of the painting. (source: bbc.co.uk)
Look how different this one here is though…
This image was published around 100 years ago. It seems much more colourful. Also, look carefully at the mouth and the famous smile – it’s really quite different from the more recent image.
I shall investigate the differences more fully and try to understand why they look so different and what restoration work is to blame.
The subject of the painting is almost certainly a lady called Lisa Gherardini. She was the daughter of Antonio Gherardini and wife of a merchant called Francesco di Bartolommeo de Zenobi del Giocondo. The painting is often officially known as “La Jaconde”, taken from the name of her husband.
It’s also been suggested that it’s a self-portrait of Leonardo himself! that seems rather unlikely to me.
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