Several painters in the Renaissance had more than one occupation. For example, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an architect, musician, anatomist, inventor, engineer, sculptor, geometer and painter. Other than his famous contributions on the subject of anatomy, Leonardo's most famous work is “known in France as La Joconde, in Italy as La Gioconda and everywhere else as the Mona Lisa.” (Sassoon 2)Different suggestions have been made about the identity of the model, without any consensus. Leonardo placed metaphors in this mysterious and enigmatic painting. And, in the 19th century, the Mona Lisa gave a new definition to the term femme fatale.
The painting isn't very complex, like most of Leonardo's paintings. In the foreground, there is a woman sitting on a chair. Her right hand is placed on her left wrist and her left hand is gripping the arm of the chair on which she is sitting. Her torso is turned towards us, though her chair is parallel to the picture. Her torso and face might be facing the viewer, but her eyes are looking something at the viewer's right, as though the model was distracted by something. Nevertheless, there is something enticing about her facial expression. When the viewer is admiring the Mona Lisa, the first thing that he or she usually notices is her smile, which seems strange and unfathomable. We might never fully understand the true meaning of this facial expression. Though art historians have found out how Leonardo was able to create the smile. Leonardo created it by “barely raising the corner of the mouth.” (Sassoon 12) Her dress, which seems to be plain, is black and her hair falls down to her shoulders. She isn't wearing any jewelry. Though the viewer doesn't see it, she seems to be sitting on a balcony. Behind her, Leonardo has painted “a complex, strange and distant landscape.” (Sassoon 1) When the Mona Lisa was first painted, the viewers could see two columns, one on each side of the model. Unfortunately, these columns were cut, after Leonardo's death. Though before the painting was cut, the columns helped reveal more of the edge of the balcony.
Leonardo created this painting with oil on wood. The painter uses the sfumato technique, which means "smoky" or "vanished in smoke" in Italian. This technique “consisted in building up layers of paint from dark to light, letting the previous one come through, thus achieving, through a play of shadows and lights, the optical illusion of relief.” (Sassoon 37) The viewer can see that there is some form of veil between the viewer and the model, as if there is something that the painter doesn't want the viewer to know, doesn't want to reveal or wants the viewer to have to search for. The artist's technique is what gives this impression.
Over the several centuries since the Mona Lisa was finished in 1507, there has been theories about the true identity of the model for this painting. To be able to devise these theories, the first question is simply whether the model is a man or a woman. If the model is a man, he could be Leonardo's lover? If he is not a lover, Leonardo has some affection for a man who disguises himself as a woman. The reason for this suggestion was made was probably because we have discovered that Leonardo was in fact a homosexual. Another theory is that this painting is in fact a self-portrait of Leonardo as a woman. With the help of computers, Dr. Lillian Schwartz was able to compare Leonardo's self-portrait and the Mona Lisa. From this analysis, she discovered that the “features of the faces align perfectly.” (Wikipedia) Others devised theories that the model is actually a woman, and not a man. Some suggest that she is Isabella of Aragon. Others thought that she might be the mistress of Giuliano de' Medici. But these are all just theories.
Documents were left that tell us the true identity of the model of the Mona Lisa. The model was in fact a Florentine lady, Lisa Gherardini. Lisa was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, who was a wealthy merchant. Francesco commissioned Leonardo to produce this work as a painting of his wife. We can now notice that the title of the painting is based on either the family name, in French and Italian, or the first name of the model, in every other language. In fact La Gioconda means “the cheerful one”, in Italian. Apparently, this painting was done just after Lisa gave birth to her second son. Lisa may therefore have had a good reason to be cheerful. But then why is she wearing black? Why doesn't she show more happiness in her facial expression? There are several questions that remain unanswered.
