MONA LISA

Giorgio Vasari records that the painting of ‘Monna Lissa del Giocondo’ was carried out when Leonardo returned to Florence. Of all his portraits, this one stands out as his masterpiece.

Vasari states that Leonardo undertook to execute for Francesco del Giocondo, the portrait of Monna Lissa, his wife, and toiling over it for four years, he left it unfinished…’

MONNA LISSA DEL GIOCONDO

Vasari goes on to inform us that Leonardo employed minstrels to play and sing to Monna Lissa while he painted. It is a detail of Leonardo’s working environment that brings us a little closer to the man, knowing that he liked to relax his sitters with the accompaniment of music, creating an ambience that would both please the client and produce a good portrait.

At some point Vasari must have viewed the work at close quarters, for he points out that the head was an example for whomsoever wished to see how closely art could imitate nature…’ His final comment brought attention again to Monna Lissa’s mouth, ‘… in this work of Leonardo’s there was a smile so pleasing that it was a thing more divine than human to behold…’ From Vasari’s description and our own eyes, we have come to recognize this as the enigmatic smile of ‘La Gioconda’, the Mona Lisa.

ARTISTIC DEBATE

The exact history of the Mona Lisa painting is difficult to ascertain. The work is thought to have been initiated in Florence, c.1502–3, after Leonardo returned from his expedition with Cesare Borgia and just before he began his preparation in October 1503 for the Battle of Anghiari wall painting.

The actual painting of the Mona Lisa probably took place between 1503 and 1506. Sketches of the work may have been initiated at an earlier time when Leonardo was travelling from Milan via Mantua and Venice.

The debate centres not on the timing as much as on the identity of the sitter, who commissioned the painting, and for what reason. Art historians identify the sitter as Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo (1479–1551), who had married a rich Florentine silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo (1465–1539), in 1495.

There is evidence to suggest that the Leonardo family knew members of the Gherardini and del Giocondo families; their acquaintance was renewed during Leonardo’s residence at Santissima Annunziata, where the del Giocondo family had a chapel in the church.

AN ENIGMATIC SMILE

Several theories for the commission have emerged. The first relates to Monna Lissa’s clothing, and the possibility “…that it was made from cloth that Francesco del Giocondo supplied.

Portrait of Lisa del Giocondo (Mona Lisa), c.1502–6. ‘Mona Lisa’, in three-quarter profile, is set against a landscape of mountains and streams

Secondly, the veil Lissa wears may have been a mourning veil, worn in memory of her daughter who died in 1499. However, the veil was typical dress and not necessarily for mourning.

Other theories include that the painting may have been commissioned to mark the birth of Monna Lissa’s second son Andrea in December 1502 (she gave birth to five children), or that the work was intended as a commemorative painting for a house purchased in 1503.

One further theory, which is a distinct possibility, is that Leonardo’s depiction of her smile may represent a play on her name, Giocondo, the ‘cheerful one’.”

Leonardo da Vinci painting the ‘Mona Lisa’, Cesare Maccari, 19th century. The work prompted artists to copy its style; others have visualized its creation

Right: La Gioconda Nude, Leonardo School, c.1513. A charcoal study of Leonardo’s lost drawing.

PROVENANCE

After ‘lingering over it’, as Vasari puts it, Leonardo left the Mona Lisa unfinished. The work stayed with him for the rest of his life. There are no clues as to why it was unclaimed or why Leonardo chose not to part with it.

When he travelled to France in the winter of 1516, the Mona Lisa travelled with him. On his death, in 1519, it was bequeathed to his assistant Salai, and it remained with the Salai household until his death, in 1524.

The painting, inherited by Salai’s sisters, was sold in 1525. The valuation of the painting at this time was 505 lire, a princely sum.

How it later came to be in the collection of the French king Francis I is unknown. Salai had bequeathed this painting and other works to his sisters. The king may have asked if he could purchase it from them, but the exact chain of events remains a mystery.

REFERENCES

Leonardo Da Vinci by Rosalind Ormiston, Anness Publishing Ltd