Art and Culture
Italy
La Gioconda
by Beatrice and Francesca
Leonardo da Vinci was born in Vinci in
1452, he was a painter, sculptor, scientist
and engineer. We will look at it from the
point of view of
painting.
Very famous
work of
Leonardo da
Vinci is Mona
Lisa , who was
painted on a
date between
1503 and 1514,
then Leonardo
became famous
because of it.
Traditionally
identified as Lisa
Gherardini , born
in 1479 and wife
of Francesco
Bartolomeo del
Giocondo
( hence the
name “Mona Lisa
” ) , the
painting ,
regarded as the
most famous
portrait in the
world, goes far beyond the traditional
boundaries of portraiture .
The imperceptible smile of Mona Lisa,
with its aura of mystery, has inspired
many pages of criticism, literature, works
of imagination, even psychoanalytic
studies. Elusive, ironic and sensual, Mona
Lisa was in turn loved, adored , but also
ridiculed or attacked. A true icon of the
painting is seen by thousands of people
every day , so that in the great hall there
is a cord which must keep a considerable
distance between visitors and it: in the
long history of the
painting there have
been attempts of
vandalism, as well
as a theft in a way
that has fueled the
legend.
Leonardo himself
was to bring with
him to France , in
1516 , Mona Lisa ,
then that might have
been purchased,
along with other
works by Francis I.
After the French
Revolution, it was
moved to Louvre
and then returned
there.
The theft of Mona
Lisa took place on
the night between
Sunday 20 and
Monday, August 21,
1911, one day
before the closing of
the museum, the subtraction Monday saw
himself a copyist, Béroud Louis , who had
been given permission to reproduce the
work behind closed doors. The news of
the theft wasn’t made official until the
following day, also because at that time it
was not uncommon that the works were
temporarily removed to be photographed.
Suspicion fell on the German Empire,
enemy of France, assuming a theft of