La Gioconda
Have you ever encountered the Mona Lisa face to face? I asked those who have actually seen the wife of the Florentine silk merchant up close how they felt the moment they set their eyes on her?
One of viewers said he felt “a mysterious gush of magic flows deep in my body, an inexplicable feeling”. “I was stunned”, another said. “It was a great disappointment” murmured another. Another viewer said “I thought she was a saint given to us from heaven”! A great poet said “it is a man”! Another commented “I hardly felt anything, almost numb, she wasn’t that pretty but rather suffers many flaws: a relatively long nose, invisible eyebrows as if forgotten by the artist, narrow eyes that lacked eyeliner”. Others said “her forehead is too wide” or “her hair is thin”, and so on and so forth.
Maddalena, the wife of the merchant Agnolo Doni, sat at the same way on the same date, at the same town in front of the young Rapffaello Sanzio, an artist who was greatly influenced by da Vinci to the extent that he stole his idea and hastily and without a fuss painted an artwork similar to the Madonna. Rapffaello’ painting shows an unattainable purity of colors. Moreover, Maddalena wears jewelry, unlike the unadorned Mona Lisa.
As of now, little care the aesthetes about Raffeal’ unknown Mona Lisa. Instead they couldn’t care much about the plain beauty of the Mona Lisa as they marvel: aren’t the Madonnan I grottan (Virgin of the Rocks), the many paintings of the Madonna, Saint Anne, or the Seduction of Leda are more beautiful? They are puzzled of how da Vinci has spent the rest of his life when he was in his fifties working on a painting that cost him a fortune as he had to hire a team of musicians and clowns to entertain his model and alleviate her grieve, loneliness, and boredom when she was sitting steadily for quite long periods of time in a fixed position.
Gorgio Vasari has described the Mona Lisa’ eyelids at length, but all the advanced examinations conducted upon the painting haven’t actually found a trace of them. Did he actually see her or reported what he had heard about her? As people complained about this since the beginning of the seventeenth century, one would wonder if the deterioration of the painting, and the restorations and oxidation processes over the past five hundred years have significantly affected the daytime of the painting changing the tone into dusk? Have the mistakes of the restores changed the original artwork?
Despite the enthusiasm of some for the Mona Lisa, it wasn’t seen as a miraculous or exceptional work in the past. The rise of its stardom began in the mid-nineteenth century in Northern Europe in particular, following the rising trends of fascination with the Renaissance in Italy in general, and with the genius of the multi-talented Leonardo. The Florentine lady's choice of the Louvre Palace as her residence in Paris was another turning point in the journey of fame, as this noble woman and da Vinci himself chose exile as a home for both of them. Then came the contribution of the writers who significantly helped to elevate its status with the expressions of praise they offered. Novelist and art critic Théophile Gautier describes her as: “Sphinx of beauty who smiles so mysteriously”! Yeats praised her in his own way, as well as Oscar Wilde, Somerset Maugham, and Forster, who referred to her in his novel “A Room with a View” when he compared one of the novel’ character with the Mona Lisa saying that she is loved dearly: “not so much for herself as for the things that she will not tell us”
On Monday, the 21st August 1911, the Mona Lisa’ fame soared when the painting was stolen by Vincenzo Perugia ,a thirty one year old thief, painter, and restorer with criminal record. Perugia was working in the Louvre at the time and his initial plan was to steel the Parnassus by Andrea Mantgena, but that painting was too big to hide. He instead took the Mona Lisa which is smaller and lighter in terms of weight. Perugia covered the painting with a piece of cloth and walked out of the Louver without stirring any doubts. The police failed to uncover the identity of the thief despite the wide range investigation conducted to solve the mystery. The investigation didn’t spare people like Picasso who was suspected for being seen several times moving around the Mona lisa. On late November 1913 Vincenzo Perugia sent a letter to a Florentine antique dealer called Alfredo Jerry offering to return the Florentine lady to her homeland for half million Italian Lira, the antique dealer accepted the offer. On 12th December, Perugia boarded the train to Florence holding a wooden box. Upon his arrival he rented a room in a humble hotel, later to be known as the Gioconda. At the decisive moment of the meeting, he opened the box in front of the antique dealer, whose heart almost stopped, and took out a pair of old shoes, and some grossly worn underwear, and then uncovered the long-awaited bride. Alfredo described the feelings overwhelmed him when he saw the Mona Lisa, and how Borgia was showing the painting and assuming the role of da Vinci as he talks to the antique dealer “your princess has been returned to you,” said Perugia, as though he had just achieved an unshaken deed of glory, “and here I am waiting for the reward” he said. The police surrounded the thief from all directions and arrested him.
Since that day, queues of visitors coming from every walk of life have lined up in front of Room 13 on the first floor of the Louver Palace to pay respects to the Florentine noblewoman, glorifying and celebrating her safe return.
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Translated by: Naglaa Eltom
Have you ever encountered the Mona Lisa face to face? I asked those who have actually seen the wife of the Florentine silk merchant up close how they felt the moment they set their eyes on her?
One of viewers said he felt “a mysterious gush of magic flows deep in my body, an inexplicable feeling”. “I was stunned”, another said. “It was a great disappointment” murmured another. Another viewer said “I thought she was a saint given to us from heaven”! A great poet said “it is a man”! Another commented “I hardly felt anything, almost numb, she wasn’t that pretty but rather suffers many flaws: a relatively long nose, invisible eyebrows as if forgotten by the artist, narrow eyes that lacked eyeliner”. Others said “her forehead is too wide” or “her hair is thin”, and so on and so forth.
Maddalena, the wife of the merchant Agnolo Doni, sat at the same way on the same date, at the same town in front of the young Rapffaello Sanzio, an artist who was greatly influenced by da Vinci to the extent that he stole his idea and hastily and without a fuss painted an artwork similar to the Madonna. Rapffaello’ painting shows an unattainable purity of colors. Moreover, Maddalena wears jewelry, unlike the unadorned Mona Lisa.
As of now, little care the aesthetes about Raffeal’ unknown Mona Lisa. Instead they couldn’t care much about the plain beauty of the Mona Lisa as they marvel: aren’t the Madonnan I grottan (Virgin of the Rocks), the many paintings of the Madonna, Saint Anne, or the Seduction of Leda are more beautiful? They are puzzled of how da Vinci has spent the rest of his life when he was in his fifties working on a painting that cost him a fortune as he had to hire a team of musicians and clowns to entertain his model and alleviate her grieve, loneliness, and boredom when she was sitting steadily for quite long periods of time in a fixed position.
Gorgio Vasari has described the Mona Lisa’ eyelids at length, but all the advanced examinations conducted upon the painting haven’t actually found a trace of them. Did he actually see her or reported what he had heard about her? As people complained about this since the beginning of the seventeenth century, one would wonder if the deterioration of the painting, and the restorations and oxidation processes over the past five hundred years have significantly affected the daytime of the painting changing the tone into dusk? Have the mistakes of the restores changed the original artwork?
Despite the enthusiasm of some for the Mona Lisa, it wasn’t seen as a miraculous or exceptional work in the past. The rise of its stardom began in the mid-nineteenth century in Northern Europe in particular, following the rising trends of fascination with the Renaissance in Italy in general, and with the genius of the multi-talented Leonardo. The Florentine lady's choice of the Louvre Palace as her residence in Paris was another turning point in the journey of fame, as this noble woman and da Vinci himself chose exile as a home for both of them. Then came the contribution of the writers who significantly helped to elevate its status with the expressions of praise they offered. Novelist and art critic Théophile Gautier describes her as: “Sphinx of beauty who smiles so mysteriously”! Yeats praised her in his own way, as well as Oscar Wilde, Somerset Maugham, and Forster, who referred to her in his novel “A Room with a View” when he compared one of the novel’ character with the Mona Lisa saying that she is loved dearly: “not so much for herself as for the things that she will not tell us”
On Monday, the 21st August 1911, the Mona Lisa’ fame soared when the painting was stolen by Vincenzo Perugia ,a thirty one year old thief, painter, and restorer with criminal record. Perugia was working in the Louvre at the time and his initial plan was to steel the Parnassus by Andrea Mantgena, but that painting was too big to hide. He instead took the Mona Lisa which is smaller and lighter in terms of weight. Perugia covered the painting with a piece of cloth and walked out of the Louver without stirring any doubts. The police failed to uncover the identity of the thief despite the wide range investigation conducted to solve the mystery. The investigation didn’t spare people like Picasso who was suspected for being seen several times moving around the Mona lisa. On late November 1913 Vincenzo Perugia sent a letter to a Florentine antique dealer called Alfredo Jerry offering to return the Florentine lady to her homeland for half million Italian Lira, the antique dealer accepted the offer. On 12th December, Perugia boarded the train to Florence holding a wooden box. Upon his arrival he rented a room in a humble hotel, later to be known as the Gioconda. At the decisive moment of the meeting, he opened the box in front of the antique dealer, whose heart almost stopped, and took out a pair of old shoes, and some grossly worn underwear, and then uncovered the long-awaited bride. Alfredo described the feelings overwhelmed him when he saw the Mona Lisa, and how Borgia was showing the painting and assuming the role of da Vinci as he talks to the antique dealer “your princess has been returned to you,” said Perugia, as though he had just achieved an unshaken deed of glory, “and here I am waiting for the reward” he said. The police surrounded the thief from all directions and arrested him.
Since that day, queues of visitors coming from every walk of life have lined up in front of Room 13 on the first floor of the Louver Palace to pay respects to the Florentine noblewoman, glorifying and celebrating her safe return.
----
Translated by: Naglaa Eltom
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