Analysis of the Mona Lisa
Kim Pokladowski
2/20/11
I have always been intrigued with the Mona Lisa, I don’t know why but there is something about her smile and her eyes that captivates me. The realness of the painting and how ordinary the Mona Lisa is the reason why I can look at this painting with great joy, it doesn’t make me think too much, it doesn’t confuse me, the simplicity and the normalcy of this painting is what I enjoy so much. However, after an analysis you can see that the painting isn’t so ordinary.
The Leonardo de Vinci used oils to paint his picture. During the 15th century using oils was very common. By using oils Leonardo was able to create a real lifelike painting. Since the oils dry slowly he was probably able
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You can see that the painting seems to be made up of three triangles. Mona Lisa being the biggest then the left top corner is the background and the top right corner, a continuation of the background. From what we’ve read he designed this painting in an upright-triangular composition. However, these two backgrounds seem to not be part of the same landscape. The left top corner seems more shaded, and darker. Also the winding road I feel might symbolize troublesomeness, or decisions. Where as, the right top side of the background is a little lighter in color and the path seems clear and straight. By positioning the Mona Lisa the way Leonardo did creates balance within the painting. He also did a wonderful job on the symmetry of her face and of the painting, between the objects in the painting and the color used its self.
You can see that when viewing a painting like this there are many questions that arise in your mind. Looking at the Mona Lisa I get drawn in and a sense of wonderment comes over me. I start to imagine the person in the painting and what her smile was really about. A strong, confident women is what I think she was, and that was brought out beautifully by de Vinci. I also think that the way he painted the Mona Lisa shows a lot about what and how Leonardo viewed women. Many say that it was painted for the love of his mother. What do you
The document shows Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa which is believed to be a portrait of Lisa Gheradini, The wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant. The art in the Renaissance was detailed and beautiful. '' One begins to know the names of the artist… feel stronger emotions in the subjects… see well-defines landscapes, natural folds in drapery, and three-dimensional figures.'' Because the art in the Renaissance had symbolic representation, it was easier to understand the
With Da Vinci’s work of the Mona Lisa in Document A the painting has a nice setting and a symbolic representation of the person whom he painted. In this painting it shows Mona Lisa smiling with indicates a strong emotions coming out. While in the middle ages their style of art wasn’t as similar to the Renaissance. The Middle Ages style of art was drafter and less detailed, but they also more religion in their art to show their religious beliefs. As stated in Document A ‘”… the new artistic styles would echo the broader movements and interests of the new age…”’ this statement is true in fact, since some artists of our time period use and become inspired by the Mona Lisa painting (Doc
This is just one small example of the mystery surrounding the painting. No one really knows for sure, but the secrets that are held within the painting are more than likely what attracts the attention of so many. Filipczak also states “Lisa is indeed a landscape; the figure is not placed under an open sky. Leonardo modified the traditional scheme by an addition.” This indicates that the painting was not done at the location in the background, but instead, the background was drawn first and then the image of the woman in the painting was added after the fact. Why did Leonardo do this? What was going through his mind when he decided to have this particular background? I believe that it may have had something to do with his sense of style, and the way that the colors and theme complimented the woman’s face and posture.
Art is one aspect of the past that has carried on for decades. Art in any form may it be poetry, novels, and playwright, sculpting as well as painting, has been an outlet for generations and continues to be an outlet and a means for expression. This paper will discuss “ The Mona Lisa” one of Da Vinci’s most famous paintings, as well as another great painting, Antonio Veneziano’s
The Mona Lisa is a very popular, and well known oil painting, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. The painting is quite simple, it presents a portrait of a woman sitting in front of a distant landscape. Her face is expressionless; she is looking off to the side with a faint smirk. Similar to other Renaissance paintings, Mona is drawn with almost no personality or thought. The influence of the Mona Lisa on the Renaissance, and even modern day, has been enormous. This is because of the expression of realism. Mona’s smile represents more of a human-like expression rather than supernatural.
The Mona Lisa was Leonardo’s most famous painting. In painting this piece, Leonardo took art to a whole new level. See the trees in the background? and the dirt road the gradually gets smaller? He made distance in this painting by doing these things. Being that he used oil paints, added a greater contrast, and a glow to her and the background. A great painting overall, but a things that were questionable. Where’s her eyebrows? Mr. Cotte conclusion is
In other words, what do these paintings represent. Since da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa in an older time, many people do not know much about the painting. Although, based on some accounts the Mona Lisa is a picture of Lisa del Giaconda. If we break down the painting it could have several meanings. A big symbol many historians recognize is her smile, which the Italian word “Giaconda” can be translated to happiness. Frida Kahlo’s painting “Self-Portrait with Monkey,” is a symbol of lust in Mexican mythology. However, Kahlo depicted this as a creature with his own soul. It could be a symbolic representation of protection as the monkey is wrapped around her neck. Her painting shows protection and certainty. Both paintings show the portrait being content. They are both relaxed in the background and search for
Leonardo da Vinci clearly displayed this idea through his new techniques and styles of portraiture, clearly seen in the Mona Lisa, allowing the evolution of medieval art into modern day artwork. Leonardo da Vinci used things such as Chiaroscuro and sfumato to create a natural landscape and 3D form, first used by him. He used these techniques to create a smooth transition from the figure to landscape, using oil paint and idealism to give the painting a more realistic feel. He used the pyramid design and pillars on either side to focus the viewers on the woman in the portrait, while also using the light and dark tones on the figure to give the background depth. The new colours used as well as the shading and blending of paint give the painting a new sense of realism and
The Renaissance movement was also significant in that it influenced the developments which occurred in philosophy, literature, music and science. This influenced Leonardo Da Vinci to created one of his most accomplished works of all time “Mona Lisa. “Mona Lisa” was an portrait oil painting created in the early 1500s and is widely considered to be the greatest artwork of all time. Leonardo Da Vinci used gaze and demand within the artwork. This allows the audience to feel interactively connected to the artwork and the character. Leonardo Da Vinci achieved an unusual effect of having Mona Lisa's smile alter depending on the angles the audience looks at the artwork. The use of perspective also gives the artwork a three dimensional feel. This allows the audience to see idealised female form as well as the themes and values of the Renaissance. The artwork “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo Da Vinci had a focus on challenging the International Gothic Style as well as representing the values and attitudes of the world at the time.
Traditionally Italian art was painted using tempera paint, in the 1300’s the use of oil
The Mona Lisa has to be one of my favorite paintings of all time and has lead me to use this specific painting as a topic for this paper. Not to mention the love I have for Leonardo da Vinci. I, myself have always been drawn to da Vinci’s paintings and all of his other achievements that he has given us during his life. I, like Leonardo da Vinci love art and science just as much as it seems he did. He shares a love of art and a fondness for science. It also seems that he loves a good mystery, and the Mona Lisa just happens to be one clouded in mystery. And I too love a good mystery.
Leonardo’s most famous painting by far is the Mona Lisa. It is a simple portrait of a young woman whose identity is unknown. She is sitting in front of a mountainous nature scene dressed in the clothing of the time. The most captivating aspect of the mysterious young woman is her very subtle smile. Not only is this a beautiful painting superficially, but also it is filled with many puzzles that art historians have been studying for years. One of the most interesting is the mismatch in the horizon of the background. The left side is significantly lower than the right. So if the observer focuses on the left side of the painting, she appears to be much taller and more erect than if he focuses on the right (WebMuseum). Da Vinci was a master of using perspective to trick the eyes of the observer.
Leonardo Da vinci painted the “Mona Lisa” in 1503. The artist portrays a young woman, which acquires the concept of feminine youth and more essentially the concept of elegance. In relation to Agnolo firenzuola’s novel “On The Beauty Of Women” , the portrait attributes to major physical characteristics in which is considered to be genuine beauty by the modern man. Seeing the female portraiture of the italian renaissance, Firenzuola implies a specific interpretation by analyzing the modern woman. Through the famous paintings illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci, the Mona Lisa specifically supports the arguments and claims made by the poet’s correspondence to the beauty of women. Along with Da Vinci’s sticking features, the artist paints Firenzuola’s ideal beauty in comparability to the appearance of definitive grace. With his analyzations being extremely aesthetic, Firenzuolo activates criticizing aspects of the proportions of the figure, the placement of the figure’s position and the importance of the half length portrait of the feminine nature in relation to the portraiture of Mona Lisa.
In the painting I chose, you can see a hint of a smile on Cecilia’s lips as she looks at something the viewer cannot see. Artists started using new techniques to make their art look more realistic. Perspective was a huge role to transform a regular painting into a more 3-dimensional looking one. This made it look like you were actually in the painting, for example something that is farther away will look smaller than something right next to you. The subjects in “The Lady and the Ermine” are in ¾ view, which demonstrates the use of perspective. Balance and proportion were also important; this is when drawing subjects are the correct size when compared to each other. As you can see, the ermine is the proper size compared to the lady. Many artists also starting using light and shadows, or also known as “chiaroscuro”, in their works to add drama, perspective, and timing to their art. Leonardo showed this very well in all his paintings, not just in the one I chose. The shadows are very evident in this painting, Leonardo even went as far as adding shadows to the creases in Cecilia 's fingers. In 1470 oil paint was brought to Italy, and artists started using them due to their beautiful rich color, which helped increase detail and depth. In addition, in paintings textures and patterns had started to appear. I you look at the painting I chose, you can see that there are patterns and designs on the lady’s dress, and you can see
8. People think that the Mona Lisa is beautiful but they do not know why. The answer is that every part of her face is beautiful, especially her smile.