Team WorldWonderings :- Hello, friends! On 21st August 1911, it was a Monday morning in the French capital, Paris. It was quite bustling. People were going to work in their offices when suddenly, three men came out of the Louvre museum. The three had spent the previous night in the museum. And now, they were carrying an important property of the Louvre Museum.
that was hidden in a blanket while they tried to escape. They went to a nearby railway station and caught the train at 8.45 in the morning and disappeared. The whole world was unaware of the fact that they had stolen a painting. Not an insignificant painting. The world’s most famous painting. The Mona Lisa.
Statement of its status as the world’s most famous painting
Today, the value of this painting is close to $1 billion. What is the reason behind this? What are the secrets hidden in the Mona Lisa? Why is this the most famous painting in the world? Let’s understand the mystery of the Mona Lisa in today’s video. Mona Lisa was painted in 1503 by an Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci.And this man was so amazing, that you won’t even believe it.
He had knowledge of so many subjects be it painting, cartography, astronomy, anatomy, botany, hydrology, geology, optics, or even palaeontology. An entire video can be made on his life.So, without talking about him too much, let’s get to Mona Lisa. The first revelation about this was made by an Italian artist named Giorgio Vasari, who wrote the autobiography of Leonardo da Vinci in 1550.
History of the Mona Lisa
According to Vasari, this woman was Lisa Gherardini. She was married to a silk trader who lived in Florence, Francesco Giocondo. He believed that Francesco had commissioned this painting of his wife and that’s the origin of the names of this painting. The first name that we all know, Mona Lisa, derived from Madonna Lisa.Traditionally, in Italian, the word Madonna was used to mean Madam. So, Madonna Lisa meant Madam Lisa.
The word Madonna was later shortened to Monna. Monna with a double N. When this was written in English an N was dropped and Monna became Mona. So Mona Lisa means Madam Lisa or Lady Lisa. And then comes Mona Lisa’s other name which is La Gioconda.After her marriage, Lisa Gherardini became Lisa Giocondo. Interestingly, in Italian, Giocondo means light-hearted or cheerful. Meaning, bright and joyful. And today, Mona Lisa is very famous for her smile. So that’s where it got its name, La Giocondo. In French, the word Giocondo is written with a J, like this, Joconde.
Iconic status in popular culture
Vincenzo wouldn’t have felt safe after this theft. But before that, let’s know the speciality of this painting. Why is it so special? First of all, the Mona Lisa was not painted on paper, canvas or cloth. Instead, it was painted on poplar wood. In those days, it was the favourite wood of Italian painters.Secondly, this painting isn’t large. Look at the photos. This is where it hangs in the museum. You can see its size in comparison to the people.
This painting is only 77 cm by 53 cm. But still, it is considered so special because, in its time, in Italy, this was the first painting which focused so closely on the person.This is a half-length portrait. These types of shots are very common in photography today. But no one used to make such paintings in those days. If you look at the overall colour grading of this painting, you will see a lot of brown and yellow shades.
Summary of the Mona Lisa’s enduring fame
The background was painted by an inferior artist. Perhaps, a person working in Leonardo’s workshop had finished this painting. Both these theories remain mere theories because no solid evidence has been found on either side. Coming back to the theft of the Mona Lisa, it was found that the mastermind of this theft, Vincenzo Peruggia, was an employee in the Louvre Museum.
Giovanni became suspicious and saw the stamp on the painting to confirm that it was the stolen painting. He was being sold the most wanted item in the world. Because of this, Vincenzo was caught and was sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment. The painting was sent back to the Louvre Museum and was hung up on 4th January, 1914.
the theft, the Mona Lisa was not very famous. People who were interested in art, knew about the Mona Lisa but the common folks did not know about the Mona Lisa. So, if you go to the Louvre Museum and see the painting of the Mona Lisa and you see a crowd of people around it, then you can blame Vincenzo for this popularity.