Leonardo da Vinci monoliza. School encyclopedia. Crime of the century. The abduction of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre

There is probably no more famous painting in the world than. It is popular in all countries, widely replicated as a recognizable and catchy image. Over the course of its four-hundred-year history, “Mona Lisa” has been both a trademark and a victim of kidnapping, was mentioned in a Nat King Cola song, her name has been quoted in tens of thousands of printed publications and films, and the expression “Mona Lisa’s smile” has become a stable phrase, even a cliched phrase .

The history of the creation of the painting "Mona Lisa"

This small work of art, measuring 76.8 x 53 cm, is painted in oil on a poplar wood board. The painting is located in, where it has a special room named after it. It was brought to the place by the artist himself, who moved here under the patronage of King Francis I.

Myths and speculation

Nowadays, most people are interested in the notorious mystery of Mona Lisa's smile. She is just a hint of a smile, a slight movement of the corners of her lips. Perhaps the decoding of the smile is contained in the very title of the painting - La Gioconda in Italian can mean “cheerful”. Maybe all these centuries the Mona Lisa is simply laughing at our attempts to unravel its mystery?

This type of smile is characteristic of many of the artist’s paintings, for example, a canvas depicting John the Baptist or numerous Madonnas (,).

For many years, identification of the identity of the prototype was of interest, until documents were found confirming the reality of the existence of the real Lisa Gherardini. However, there are claims that the painting is an encrypted self-portrait of da Vinci, who always had unconventional inclinations, or even an image of his young student and lover, nicknamed Salai - the Little Devil. The latter assumption is supported by such evidence as the fact that it was Salai who turned out to be Leonardo’s heir and the first owner of La Gioconda. In addition, the name "Mona Lisa" may be an anagram of "Mon Salai" (my Salai in French).

Of great interest to conspiracy theorists and supporters of the idea that da Vinci belonged to a number of secret societies is the mysterious landscape in the background. It depicts a strange terrain that has not been accurately identified to this day. It was painted, like the whole picture, using the sfumato technique, but in a different color scheme, bluish-greenish, and asymmetrical - the right side does not correspond to the left. In addition, recently there have been allegations that the artist encrypted some letters in the eyes of Gioconda, and numbers in the image of the bridge.

Just a painting or a masterpiece

Most people take the mass point of view and treat the painting as a mysterious painting, a masterpiece sent to us from the past by one of the most brilliant and talented masters in the history of art. The minority sees the Mona Lisa as an unusually beautiful and talented painting. Its mystery lies only in the fact that we attribute to it those features that we ourselves want to see.

Fortunately, the most limited group of people are those who are outraged and irritated by this picture. Yes, this happens, otherwise how can one explain at least four cases of vandalism, due to which the canvas is now protected by thick bulletproof glass.

Be that as it may, “La Gioconda” continues to exist and delight new generations of viewers with its mysterious half-smile and complex unsolved mysteries. Perhaps in the future someone will find answers to existing questions. Or he will create new legends.

Leonardo da Vinci "La Gioconda":
History of the painting

On August 22, 1911, the world famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci “La Gioconda” disappeared from the Square Hall of the Louvre. At 1 p.m., when the museum opened to visitors, she was not there. Confusion began among the Louvre workers. The network announced that the museum was closing for the whole day due to a water supply failure.

The prefect of police appeared with a detachment of inspectors. All exits from the Louvre were closed, and the museum began to be searched. But it is impossible to check the ancient palace of the French kings with an area of ​​198 square meters in one day. However, by the end of the day, the police still managed to find a glass case and frame from the Mona Lisa on the landing of a small service staircase. The painting itself - a rectangle measuring 54x79 centimeters - disappeared without a trace.

“The loss of La Gioconda is a national disaster,” wrote the French magazine Illustration, “since it is almost certain that whoever committed this theft cannot derive any benefit from it. It must be feared that he, in fear of being caught, may destroy this fragile work.”

The magazine announced a reward: “40,000 francs to the one who brings “La Gioconda” to the editorial office of the magazine. 20,000 francs to anyone who can point out where the painting can be found. 45,000 to the one who returns La Gioconda before September 1.” The first of September passed, but there was no picture. Then Illustration published a new proposal: “The editors guarantee complete secrecy to whoever brings “La Gioconda.” They’ll give him 45,000 in cash and won’t even ask him his name.” But no one came.

Month after month passed. All this time, the portrait of the beautiful Florentine woman lay hidden in a heap of rubbish on the third floor of the large Parisian house “Cité du Heroes”, in which Italian seasonal workers lived.

A few more months passed, a year, two...
One day, Italian antique dealer Alfredo Geri received a letter from Paris. On bad school paper, in clumsy letters, a certain Vincenzo Leopardi offered to buy an antique dealer the portrait of Mona Lisa that had disappeared from the Louvre. Leopardi wrote that he wanted to return one of the best works of Italian art to his homeland.
This letter was sent in November 1913.
When, after long negotiations, correspondence and meetings, Leopardi delivered the painting to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, he said:
“This is a good, holy thing! The Louvre is chock full of treasures that rightfully belong to Italy. I wouldn’t be an Italian if I looked at this with indifference!”

Fortunately, the two years and three months that the Mona Lisa spent in captivity did not affect the painting. Under police protection, La Gioconda was exhibited in Rome, Florence, Milan, and then, after a solemn farewell ceremony, it left for Paris.

The investigation into the case of Perugia (this is the real name of the kidnapper) lasted for several months. The arrested man did not hide anything and said that he periodically worked at the Louvre as a glazier. During this time, he explored the halls of the art gallery and met many museum employees. He openly stated that he had long ago decided to steal La Gioconda.

Peruggi did not know the history of painting well. He sincerely and naively believed that La Gioconda was taken from Italy during the time of Napoleon.
Meanwhile, Leonardo da Vinci himself brought it to France and sold it to the French King Francis I for 4,000 ecus - a huge amount at that time. This painting adorned the Golden Cabinet of the royal castle in Fontainebleau for a long time; under Louis XIV it was moved to Versailles, and after the revolution it was transferred to the Louvre.

After a 20-year stay in Milan, Leonardo da Vinci returned to Florence. How things have changed in his hometown! Those whom he left here were already at the height of their glory; and he, who once enjoyed universal worship, has almost been forgotten. His old friends, caught in a whirlwind of unrest and unrest, changed a lot... One of them became a monk; another, in despair over the death of the frantic Savonarola, gave up painting and decided to spend the rest of his days in the Santa Maria Novella hospital; the third, aged in spirit and body, could no longer be Leonardo’s former comrade.

Only P. Perugino, already experienced in everyday affairs, talked with Leonardo in the old way and gave him useful advice. His words were true, and Leonardo da Vinci also really needed these tips. In the service of the duke, he did not earn money for a comfortable life and returned to Florence with meager funds. Leonardo never even thought about large and serious works, and no one ordered them for him. To write at his own risk for the love of art, he had neither money nor time. The entire Florentine nobility strove for mediocre masters, and the brilliant da Vinci lived in poverty, content with the crumbs that fell to him from the orders of his lucky brothers.
But in Florence, Leonardo da Vinci created his masterpiece of masterpieces - the famous painting “La Gioconda”.

Soviet art critic I. Dolgopolov noted that writing about this painting “is simply scary, because poets, prose writers, and art critics have written hundreds of books about it. There are countless publications in which every inch of this picture is carefully studied. And although the story of its creation is quite well known, the title of the painting, the date of its painting and even the city in which the great Leonardo met his model are questioned.”

Giorgio Vasari in his “Biographies” reports about this painting: “Leonardo undertook to make for Francesco del Giocondo a portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife.”
As some researchers now suggest, Vasari was apparently mistaken. The latest research shows that the painting does not depict the wife of the Florentine nobleman del Giocondo, but some other high-ranking lady. M.A. Gukovsky, for example, wrote several decades ago that this portrait conveys the features of one of the many ladies of Giulio Medici’s heart and was made according to his order. This is unequivocally reported by Antonio de Beatis, who saw the portrait in Leonardo’s studio in France.

In his diary dated October 10, 1517, he reports: “In one of the suburbs, Mr. Cardinal went with us sinners to see Mr. Luonardo Vinci, a Florentine... an excellent painter of our time. The latter showed his lordship three paintings - one of a certain Florentine lady, painted from life, at the request of the late Magnificent Giulio Medici.

Many researchers were amazed why the merchant del Giocondo did not leave a portrait of his wife. Indeed, the portrait became the property of the artist. And this fact is also perceived by some as an argument in favor of the fact that Leonardo did not depict the Mona Lisa. But perhaps the Florentine was quite amazed and surprised? Maybe he simply did not recognize his young wife Mona Lisa Gherardini in the depicted goddess? But Leonardo himself, who painted the portrait for four years and invested so much in it, could not part with it and took the painting away from Florence?

Be that as it may, in fact, thanks to D. Vasari, this female image entered the history of world culture under the name “Mona Lisa”, or “Gioconda”. Was she beautiful? Probably, but there were many women in Florence more beautiful than her.
However, Mona Lisa was surprisingly attractive, although her facial features were not harmonious. A small smiling mouth, soft hair falling onto the shoulders...
“But her fully developed figure,” writes M. Alpatov, “was perfect, and her well-groomed hands were especially perfect in shape. But what was remarkable about her, despite her wealth, fashionably plucked eyebrows, rouge and a lot of jewelry on her hands and neck, was the simplicity and naturalness spilled throughout her entire appearance...
And then her face lit up with a smile and became unusually attractive for the artist - embarrassed and a little sly, as if the lost playfulness of youth and something hidden in the depths of his soul, unsolved, had returned to him.”

Leonardo resorted to all sorts of tricks to ensure that his model didn’t get bored during the sessions. In a beautifully decorated room, among flowers and luxurious furniture, musicians sat, delighting the ears with singing and music, and a beautiful, sophisticated artist watched for a wondrous smile on the face of Mona Lisa.
He invited jesters and clowns, but the music did not quite satisfy Mona Lisa. She listened to well-known tunes with a bored face, and the magician-juggler didn’t really revive her either. And then Leonardo told her a fairy tale.

Once upon a time there lived a poor man, and he had four sons; three were smart, and one was this and that. - neither intelligence nor stupidity. Yes, however, they could not judge his intelligence properly: he was more silent and loved to walk in the field, to the sea, listen and think to himself; I also loved looking at the stars at night.

And then death came for the father. Before taking his own life, he called his children to him and told them:
“My sons, I will soon die. As soon as you bury me, lock the hut and go to the ends of the world to find happiness for yourself. Let everyone learn something so that they can feed themselves.”

The father died, and the sons, having buried him, went to the ends of the world to seek their happiness and agreed that in three years they would return to the clearing of their native grove, where they went for dead wood, and tell each other who had learned what during these three years.
Three years passed, and, remembering the agreement, the brothers returned from the end of the world to the clearing of their native grove. The first brother came and learned to carpenter. Out of boredom, he cut down a tree and hewed it, making a woman out of it. He walked away a little and waited.
The second brother returned, saw a wooden woman, and since he was a tailor, he decided to dress her and at that very moment, like a skilled craftsman, made her beautiful silk clothes.
The third son came and decorated the wooden girl with gold and precious stones, because he was a jeweler and managed to accumulate enormous wealth.

And the fourth brother came. He could neither carpenter nor sew - he only knew how to listen to what the earth said, what the trees, herbs, animals and birds said, he knew the course of the celestial planets and also knew how to sing wonderful songs. He saw a wooden girl in luxurious clothes, gold and precious stones. But she was deaf and dumb and did not move. Then he collected all his art - after all, he learned to talk with everything that is on earth, he learned to revive stones with his song... And he sang a beautiful song, from which the brothers hiding behind the bushes cried, and with this song he breathed the soul into the wooden woman . And she smiled and sighed...

Then the brothers rushed to her and shouted:
- I created you, you should be my wife!
- You must be my wife, I dressed you, naked and miserable!
- And I made you rich, you should be my wife!

But the girl answered:
- You created me - be my father. You dressed me, and you decorated me - be my brothers. And you, who breathed my soul into me and taught me to enjoy life, you alone will be my husband for life...
And the trees, and the flowers, and the whole earth, together with the birds, sang a hymn of love to them...

Having finished the tale, Leonardo looked at the Mona Lisa. God, what happened to her face! It seemed to be lit up with light, the eyes were shining. A smile of bliss, slowly disappearing from her face, remained in the corners of her mouth and trembled, giving it an amazing, mysterious and slightly sly expression.

It has been a long time since Leonardo da Vinci experienced such a huge surge of creative energy. Everything that was most cheerful, bright and clear in him, he put into his work.
To enhance the impression of the face, Leonardo dressed Mona Lisa in a simple dress, devoid of any decoration, modest and dark. The impression of simplicity and naturalness is enhanced by the skillfully painted folds of the dress and light scarf.

Artists and art lovers who sometimes visited Leonardo saw La Gioconda and were delighted:
- What magical skill does Messer Leonardo possess in depicting this living sparkle, this moisture in the eyes!
- She's definitely breathing!
- She'll laugh now!
- You can almost feel the living skin of this lovely face... It seems that in the deepening of the neck you can see the pulse beating.
- What a strange smile she has. It's like she's thinking about something and not saying anything...

Indeed, in the eyes of “La Gioconda” there is light and a damp shine, as in living eyes, and the finest lilac veins are noticeable in the eyelids. but the great artist did something unprecedented: he also painted the air, permeated with moist vapors and enveloping the figure in a transparent haze.

The most famous, studied and described many times in all languages ​​of the world, “La Gioconda” still remains the most mysterious painting of the great da Vinci. It still remains incomprehensible and continues to disturb the imagination for several centuries, perhaps precisely because it is not a portrait in the usual sense of the word. Leonardo da Vinci wrote it contrary to the very concept of “portrait,” which presupposes an image of a real person, similar to the original and with the attributes that characterize it (at least indirectly).
What the artist painted goes far beyond a simple portrait. Every shade of skin, every fold of clothing, the warm shine of the eyes, the life of arteries and veins - the artist provided his painting with all this. But in front of the viewer in the background there also appears a steep chain of rocks with icy peaks at the foot of the mountains, a surface of water with a wide and winding river flowing from it, which, narrowing under a small bridge, turns into a miniature waterfall, disappearing outside the picture.

The golden warm light of the Italian evening and the magical charm of Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings pour on the viewer. Attentively, understanding everything, “La Gioconda” looks at the world and people. More than one century has passed since the artist created it, and with the last touch of Leonardo’s brush it became eternally alive. He himself had long felt that the Mona Lisa lived against his will.

As art critic V. Lipatov writes:
“La Gioconda” was copied many times and always unsuccessfully: she was elusive, did not even appear in a remote resemblance on someone else’s canvas, and remained faithful to her creator.
They tried to tear her apart, take her away and repeat at least her eternal smile, but in the paintings of her students and followers, the smile faded, became false, died, like a creature imprisoned in captivity.”
Indeed, not a single reproduction will convey even a thousandth of the charm that flows from the portrait.

The Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset wrote that in La Gioconda one can feel the desire for internal liberation:
“Look how tense her temples and smoothly shaved eyebrows are, how tightly her lips are compressed, with what hidden effort she is trying to lift the heavy load of melancholy sadness. However, this tension is so imperceptible, her whole figure breathes with such graceful calm and her whole being is filled with such immobility that this internal effort is more likely to be guessed by the viewer than consciously expressed by the master. It wriggles, bites its tail like a snake, and, completing the movement in a circle, finally giving vent to despair, manifests itself in the famous smile of Mona Lisa.”

The unique “La Giaconda” by Leonardo da Vinci was ahead of the development of painting by many centuries. Trying to explain the secret of its witchcraft charm, an endless amount was written about the painting. They made the most incredible assumptions (that “La Gioconda” is pregnant, that she is askew, that it is a man in disguise, that this is a self-portrait of the artist himself), but it is unlikely that it will ever be possible to fully explain why this work, created by Leonardo in his declining years, has such amazing and attractive force. For this canvas is the creation of a truly divine, and not a human hand.
"One Hundred Great Paintings" by N.A. Ionin, Veche Publishing House, 2002

Mona Lisa. Who is she? - article

Mona Lisa. Who is she?

The Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda) is a portrait of a young woman painted by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci around 1503. The painting is one of the most famous works of painting in the world. Belongs to the Renaissance. Exhibited at the Louvre (Paris, France).

Story

In no other painting by Leonardo is the depth and haze of the atmosphere conveyed with such perfection as in the Mona Lisa. This aerial perspective is probably the best executed. The Mona Lisa has gained worldwide fame not only because of the quality of Leonardo's work, which impresses both artistic amateurs and professionals. The painting was studied by historians and copied by painters, but for a long time it would have remained known only to art connoisseurs if not for its exceptional history. In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen and only three years later, thanks to a coincidence, was returned to the museum. During this time, the Mona Lisa remained on the covers of newspapers and magazines around the world. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Mona Lisa was copied more often than any other painting. Since then, the painting has become an object of cult and worship as a masterpiece of world classics.

The mystery of the model

The person depicted in the portrait is difficult to identify. Until today, many controversial and sometimes absurd opinions have been expressed on this matter:

• The wife of the Florentine merchant del Giocondo
• Isabella of Este
• Just the perfect woman
• A young man in women's clothing
• Self-portrait of Leonardo

The mystery that surrounds the stranger to this day attracts millions of visitors to the Louvre every year.

In 1517, Cardinal Louis of Aragon visited Leonardo in his studio in France. A description of this visit was made by the secretary of Cardinal Antonio de Beatis: “On October 10, 1517, Monsignor and others like him visited in one of the remote parts of Amboise visited Messire Leonardo da Vinci, a Florentine, a gray-bearded old man, more than seventy years old, the most excellent artist of our time . He showed His Excellency three pictures: one of a Florentine lady, painted from life at the request of Friar Lorenzo the Magnificent Giuliano de' Medici, another of St. John the Baptist in his youth, and the third of St. Anne with Mary and the Christ Child; all extremely beautiful. From the master himself, due to the fact that his right hand was paralyzed at that time, one could no longer expect new good works.”

According to some researchers, “a certain Florentine lady” means the “Mona Lisa”. It is possible, however, that this was another portrait, from which no evidence or copies have survived, as a result of which Giuliano Medici could not have any connection with the Mona Lisa.

According to Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), the author of biographies of Italian artists, Mona Lisa (short for Madonna Lisa) was the wife of a Florentine man named Francesco del Giocondo, whose portrait Leonardo spent four years painting, but still left its unfinished.

Vasari expresses a very laudatory opinion about the quality of this painting: “Any person who wants to see how well art can imitate nature can easily see this from the example of the head, because here Leonardo has reproduced all the details... The eyes are filled with brilliance and moisture, like living people... The delicate pink nose seems real. The red tone of the mouth harmoniously matches the color of her face... No matter who looked closely at her neck, it seemed to everyone that her pulse was beating...". He also explains the slight smile on her face: “Leonardo allegedly invited musicians and clowns to entertain the lady, who was bored from posing for a long time.”

This story may be true, but most likely Vasari simply added it to Leonardo’s biography for the amusement of readers. Vasari's description also contains an accurate description of the eyebrows missing from the painting. This inaccuracy could only arise if the author described the picture from memory or from the stories of others. The painting was well known among art lovers, although Leonardo left Italy for France in 1516, taking the painting with him. According to Italian sources, it has since been in the collection of the French king Francis I, but it remains unclear when and how he acquired it and why Leonardo did not return it to the customer.

Vasari, born in 1511, could not see Gioconda with his own eyes and was forced to refer to information given by the anonymous author of the first biography of Leonardo. It is he who writes about the uninfluential silk merchant Francesco Giocondo, who ordered a portrait of his third wife Lisa from the artist. Despite the words of this anonymous contemporary, many researchers still doubt the possibility that the Mona Lisa was painted in Florence (1500-1505). The refined technique indicates a later creation of the painting. In addition, at this time Leonardo was so busy working on the “Battle of Anghiari” that he even refused Princess Isabella d’Este to accept her order. Could a simple merchant then persuade the famous master to paint a portrait of his wife?

It is also interesting that in his description Vasari admires Leonardo's talent for conveying physical phenomena, and not the similarity between the model and the painting. It seems that it was this physical feature of the masterpiece that left a deep impression among visitors to the artist’s studio and reached Vasari almost fifty years later.

Composition

A careful analysis of the composition leads to the conclusion that Leonardo did not seek to create an individual portrait. “Mona Lisa” became the realization of the artist’s ideas expressed in his treatise on painting. Leonardo's approach to his work has always been scientific. Therefore, the Mona Lisa, which he spent many years creating, became a beautiful, but at the same time inaccessible and insensitive image. She seems voluptuous and cold at the same time. Despite the fact that Giaconda’s gaze is directed at us, a visual barrier has been created between us and her - the arm of a chair, acting as a partition. Such a concept excludes the possibility of intimate dialogue, as for example in the portrait of Balthazar Castiglione (exhibited in the Louvre, Paris), painted by Raphael about ten years later. However, our gaze constantly returns to her illuminated face, surrounded as if by a frame of dark hair hidden under a transparent veil, shadows on her neck and a dark, smoky background landscape. Against the backdrop of distant mountains, the figure gives the impression of being monumental, although the format of the painting is small (77x53 cm). This monumentality, inherent in sublime divine beings, keeps us mere mortals at a respectful distance and at the same time makes us strive unsuccessfully for the unattainable. It is not for nothing that Leonardo chose the position of the model, which is very similar to the positions of the Virgin Mary in Italian paintings of the 15th century. Additional distance is created by artificiality, which arises from the impeccable sfumato effect (refusal of clear outlines in favor of creating an airy impression). It must be assumed that Leonardo actually completely freed himself from portrait likeness in favor of creating the illusion of atmosphere and a living, breathing body using a plane, paints and a brush. For us, Gioconda will forever remain Leonardo's masterpiece.

The detective story of the Mona Lisa

For a long time, Mona Lisa would have been known only to fine art connoisseurs, if not for her exceptional history, which made her world famous.

Since the beginning of the sixteenth century, the painting, acquired by Francis I after Leonardo's death, remained in the royal collection. From 1793 it was placed in the Central Museum of Arts in the Louvre. The Mona Lisa has always remained in the Louvre as one of the treasures of the national collection. On August 21, 1911, the painting was stolen by an employee of the Louvre, Italian mirror master Vincenzo Peruggia. The purpose of this abduction is not clear. Perhaps Perugia wanted to return La Gioconda to its historical homeland. The painting was found only two years later in Italy. Moreover, the culprit was the thief himself, who responded to an advertisement in the newspaper and offered to sell the Mona Lisa. Finally, on January 1, 1914, the painting returned to France.

In the twentieth century, the painting almost never left the Louvre, visiting the USA in 1963 and Japan in 1974. The trips only cemented the success and fame of the film.

Based on Wikipedia materials

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was painted in 1505, but it remains the most popular work of art. Still an unsolved problem is the mysterious expression on the woman's face. In addition, the painting is famous for the unusual execution methods used by the artist and, most importantly, the Mona Lisa was stolen several times. The most notorious case happened about 100 years ago - on August 21, 1911.

16:24 21.08.2015

Back in 1911, the Mona Lisa, whose full name was “Portrait of Madame Lisa del Giocondo,” was stolen by an employee of the Louvre, the Italian mirror master Vincenzo Perugia. But then no one even suspected him of stealing. Suspicion fell on the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, and even Pablo Picasso! The museum administration was immediately fired and the French borders were temporarily closed. Newspaper hype greatly contributed to the growth of the film's popularity.

The painting was discovered only 2 years later in Italy. Interestingly, due to the thief’s own oversight. He made a fool of himself by responding to an advertisement in the newspaper and offering to buy the Mona Lisa to the director of the Uffizi Gallery.

8 facts about Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa that will surprise you

1. It turns out that Leonardo da Vinci rewrote La Gioconda twice. Experts believe that the colors on the original versions were much brighter. And the sleeves of Gioconda’s dress were originally red, the colors just faded over time.

In addition, in the original version of the painting there were columns along the edges of the canvas. Later the picture was cropped, probably by the artist himself.

2. The first place where they saw “La Gioconda” was the bathhouse of the great politician and collector King Francis I. According to legend, before his death, Leonardo da Vinci sold “Gioconda” to Francis for 4 thousand gold coins. At that time it was simply a huge amount.

The king placed the painting in the bathhouse not because he did not realize what a masterpiece he had received, but quite the opposite. At that time, the bathhouse at Fontainebleau was the most important place in the French kingdom. There, Francis not only had fun with his mistresses, but also received ambassadors.

3. At one time, Napoleon Bonaparte liked the Mona Lisa so much that he moved it from the Louvre to the Tuileries Palace and hung it in his bedroom. Napoleon knew nothing about painting, but he highly valued da Vinci. True, not as an artist, but as a universal genius, which, by the way, he considered himself to be. After becoming emperor, Napoleon returned the painting to the museum in the Louvre, which he named after himself.

4. Hidden in the eyes of the Mona Lisa are tiny numbers and letters that are unlikely to be visible to the naked eye. researchers suggest that these are the initials of Leonardo da Vinci and the year the painting was created.

5. During World War II, many works from the Louvre collection were hidden in the Chateau de Chambord. Among them was the Mona Lisa. The location where the Mona Lisa was hidden was kept a closely guarded secret. The paintings were hidden for good reason: it would later turn out that Hitler planned to create the world's largest museum in Linz. And he organized a whole campaign for this under the leadership of the German art connoisseur Hans Posse.

6. It is believed that the painting depicts Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Gioconda, a Florentine silk merchant. True, there are also more exotic versions. According to one of them, Mona Lisa is Leonardo’s mother Katerina, according to another, it is a self-portrait of the artist in a female form, and according to the third, it is Salai, Leonardo’s student, dressed in a woman’s dress.

7. Most researchers believe that the landscape painted behind the Mona Lisa is fictitious. There are versions that this is the Valdarno Valley or the Montefeltro region, but there is no convincing evidence for these versions. It is known that Leonardo painted the painting in his Milan workshop.

8. The painting has its own room in the Louvre. Now the painting is inside a special protective system, which includes bullet-resistant glass, a complex alarm system and an installation to create a microclimate that is optimal for preserving the painting. The cost of this system is $7 million.

• Year of creation: 1503-1506
• Painting technique: on wood
• Genre:
• Style:Renaissance painting
• Exhibition: Louvre in Paris

"Mona Lisa" is the most famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci. This Italian Renaissance painter created his work over a period of almost three years, between 1503 and 1506 to be precise. "Mona Lisa" was painted using the technique on a wooden base, measuring 77 x 53 cm and has a linear perspective. Today you can see this work of art in the Louvre.

The mysterious central figure in the image is probably the Florentine girl Lisa Gherardini, also known as Lisa del Giocondo Monn (hence the second title of the painting - "La Gioconda"), whose husband commissioned a portrait from an Italian master brush. She is presented in the middle of the work, although you can see her rather curvaceous, feminine figure, the painting has a fairly precise balance. The girl depicted in the picture has long, dark, straight and falling almond-shaped eyebrows, with thin eyebrows located above them and small eyebrows. The viewer's attention is drawn to the most gentle, almost imperceptible smile. The entire work is complemented by the background - a rocky landscape of brownish-green mountains, slightly covered with fog.

The intriguing smile of Gioconda has long been the subject of much discussion, and it is still not known what the artist had in mind when depicting the girl in this way. Hypotheses say that behind this Mona Lisa smile are hidden blessed, divine qualities of the girl or expressions of pride or ancient harmony. The uncertainty and ambiguity of this work testifies to the versatility of the artist. The viewer can allow himself any interpretation of this painting.

The dominant colors of the image are dark, muted and cold. The painting is dominated by green, which conveys the color of Mona Lisi's clothing and also confirms that she is behind the forest. The composition is static but open. The lady herself, although in the foreground, is not marked with bright colors, which allows her to blend into the landscape. This is also related to Da Vinci's technique: soft chiaroscuro (Italian "sfumato" - smoke, shaded, blurry). The absence of sharp contours, saturated colors and the difficulty of diagnosing various elements makes the atmosphere in the picture idyllic, fabulous and mysterious.

A characteristic feature of this painting is that no matter from which angle one admires the portrait of the Mona Lisa, she will always look directly at us. In addition, da Vinci used a technique to deceive the sense of vision by using the shadows cast by the cheekbones. Thanks to which the Mona Lisa's smile becomes more obvious when we look at her eyes and practically disappears after we look directly at her mouth.

The Mona Lisa was a source of inspiration for many later artists, including Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger, and Andy Warhol.