What the Mona Lisa or Mona Lisa is one of the most famous faces of history. This year, the portrait of Mona Lisa takes 500 years.: Leonardo began in 1503 and worked there until 1506, though not the genius of Leonardo's thought never completed. This is an important day in the life of Leonardo left Florence for Milan and was the first assignments in France, bringing with him until 1513 and perhaps beyond, constantly disappointed with the outcome.
Much has been written about the Mona Lisa to the myth. However, by two of the most respected scholars of Leonardo, Carlo Pedretti and Peter C. Marani, we learn that the myth of the Mona Lisa is recent. The picture was initially kept in the royal apartments Fontainebleau, then go to the Petite Galerie du Roi at Versailles and then again in the bedroom of Napoleon. For a short time was in the Louvre and then move on, in 1801, in the bedroom of Josephine. Only after Napoleon's coronation in 1804, the painting returned to the Louvre and beginning the season of the myth.
Théophile Gautier connected the grace of the figure of Leonardo to the cult of the eternal feminine and the superiority of women theorized by Goethe in 1831, in particular the myth of the "femme fatale". Romantic scholars began to propagate the myth of Leonardo as a universal man with almost supernatural powers. As you can see, history repeats itself, if we think Free shot of Da Vinci Code and its rivals.
But who is this woman? Here is another conundrum that has sparked all sorts of fantasies. Documents discovered in the nineties
confirm Vasari's narrative: "He took Leonardo to do for Francesco del Giocondo, the portrait of Mona Lisa his wife, and four years penatovi, left imperfect." The identification of the Mona Lisa with the wife of Florentine merchant in the middle of social ascent, is the simplest and the most credible.
However, before 1991, ie before the discovery of these documents, identifying many hypotheses were advanced:
- Adolfo Venturi (1925) proposed to recognize the Mona Lisa Duchess di Francavilla Costanza d’Avalos
- Pedretti, aveva proposto (1957) di identificare la dama con Pacifica Brandano
- Tanaka (1977) proponeva Isabella d’Este.
- Altri una certa signora Gualanda.
- Qualcuno perfino la madre di Leonardo.
- Recentemente si è voluto vedere il ritratto di Bianca Sforza.
Ma l’identificazione ha un’importanza relativa nella ritrattistica leonardesca. Per comprendere la mens del maestro in questo genere (di intento sempre moralizzante) basta guardare il ritratto di Ginevra Benci alla National Gallery di Washington (che contrariamente alla Gioconda ha un aria tristissima). La giovane donna si staglia sullo sfondo di un ginepro, allusivo al nome ma anche virtue. And on the back of the panel reads: Virtutem decorat form (beauty adorns virtue). What needed to bring out a lady in the sixteenth century, more than beauty, was the morality, nobility, purity, devotion ... in a word, virtue. Now, Leonardo did not finish the painting of the Mona Lisa, as is evident from a few details. From 1503 until his death he continued to work with exasperating slowness and dissatisfaction, as shown by X-ray, showing a basic shape somewhat different. The artist went short, transforming the picture of Lisa in an ideal portrait. And this key must be interpreted in the strange landscape in the background, as interpreted by Pedretti's plane on the way the landscapes of Leonardo composed horizons and furniture from several points of observation, as in a film sequence. This opens new possibilities of interpretation.
But in the meantime, happy birthday, whoever you are.
0 comments:
Post a Comment