Context: The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1503-1506. The painting of Mona Lisa and her secret smile is one of the most debated paintings in the whole world. It was an oil painting on a wood panel, that became one of the worlds famous paintings, and is one of the world’s most valuable paintings. The painting is supposed to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, who was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. The Mona Lisa painting was acquired by King Francis I of France but is now the property of the French Republic and is on permanent display at the Louvre Museum in Paris and has been since 1797. The painting of Mona Lisa’s secrets has been a controversy with art historians for many years.
Content: This painting of Mona Lisa is a 2’6” x 1’9” oil painting on a wood panel. In the painting, Mona Lisa has a secret smile, and historians say that her identity is unproven. She is sitting in an upright position, and her left arm is resting on the left armrest of the chair with her right arm crossed in front of her. Another unusual feature of the Mona Lisa, is her lack of eyebrows and eyelashes. Although scans indicate that she had both, it could have been the color pigment that was used for these facial features faded. And, the background landscape looks to be an aerial perspective with no defined vanishing point.
Composition: Leonardo used various types of lines, but the most evident are the curved lines. From looking at the jagged mountains in the background, and the curves in the painting you, can tell that he used mainly organic shapes in the painting
Important formal elements: There are many principles of formal elements that can be seen in the painting of Mona Lisa. In this painting, her face is framed by her dark hair which is a light center of interest. Being that the subject is in the center of the painting, it gives the art piece formal balance.
Interesting facts: According to an article by Softschools, in the painting of Mona Lisa, her eyebrows and eyelashes are missing. For many years the reasoning has been debated. Some believe that they were accidentally removed during restoration, but some believe that Mona Lisa never had eyebrows to begin with. At the time of the painting, it was popular for women to pluck their eyebrows and eyelashes. Another fact about the Mona Lisa painting is that in 1511 the painting disappeared from the Louvre in Paris. Pablo Picasso was questioned and put in jail but later was proven innocent. But, two years later in 1913 Vincenzo Perugia was discovered to be the actual thief that stole the painting. The Mona Lisa painting is literally priceless. In the1960’s, the painting went on a tour where it was given an insurance value of $100 million. But, the policy was never taken out because the premiums were more than the cost of the best security.
