She's one of the most famous women in the human history, but no one is sure about her identity. Her name is Mona Lisa (also known as the Gioconda) painted by Leonardo da Vinci, housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris, and, probably, soon could be possible to know something new about her.
As it happens for almost all of the Da Vinci art works, the portrait, painted around 1503-14, is as simple as mysterious at the same time. What's behind that smile? What about the landscape in the background: is a real place or a fantastic one? And, above all, who's the person portrayed?
Experts from around the world have submitted the picture to repeated examinations, including infrared scans. And lots of speculations have been made about it. Someone talked about a self-portrait by Leonardo in feminine semblances. Others sayd that it's not a portrait of a woman but that the model was a young aprentice (and possible male lover) of Leonardo, Giacomo Caprotti. Also, someone else talked about tiny letters and numbers that have been discovered in her eyes as a clue of the identity of the painted woman.
But the main and traditional identification of the subject is Lisa Gherardini (mona is the short form for madonna, that in old italian language meant madame), wife of Francesco del Giocondo, from where the word: Gioconda. What is happened is that some old documents indicate that the body of Lisa Gherardini was buried beneath a convent in Florence, and now a group of archaeologists says that they have found, in the derelict convent of Saint Orsola in the center of Florence, just behind the Central Market Square (here the map), the complete skeleton of a woman which might be her.
It's difficult to recognize the mysterious smile of Mona Lisa in that of the skull in the picture, but it will be possible to reconstruct from it the visage of Lisa del Giocondo. And now the bones are undergoing radiocarbon dating and DNA testing. Then, probably, we'll know something more about the enigmatic masterpiece.
Make me happy and click below if you liked this post!
0 OPINIONS:
Post a Comment