what's so great about the Mona Lisa?

Question

seriously what is it about that painting?

Answer 1

it's because she has so many mysteries attached to her. No one can be sure who she, who comissioned her and how she came to be in the posession of the French royal family. Look at what the Louvre have to say about her and then you decide.

This portrait was doubtless painted in Florence between 1503 and 1506. It is thought to be of Lisa Gherardini, wife of a Florentine cloth merchant named Francesco del Giocondo - hence the alternative title, La Gioconda. However, Leonardo seems to have taken the completed portrait to France rather than giving it to the person who commissioned it. It was eventually returned to Italy by Leonardo's student and heir Salai. It is not known how the painting came to be in François I's collection.



Description


Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco Giocondo

The history of the Mona Lisa is shrouded in mystery. Among the aspects which remain unclear are the exact identity of the sitter, who commissioned the portrait, how long Leonardo worked on the painting, how long he kept it, and how it came to be in the French royal collection.
The portrait may have been painted to mark one of two events - either when Francesco del Giocondo and his wife bought their own house in 1503, or when their second son, Andrea, was born in December 1502 after the death of a daughter in 1499. The delicate dark veil that covers Mona Lisa's hair is sometimes considered a mourning veil. In fact, such veils were commonly worn as a mark of virtue. Her clothing is unremarkable. Neither the yellow sleeves of her gown, nor her pleated gown, nor the scarf delicately draped round her shoulders are signs of aristocratic status.


A new artistic formula


The Mona Lisa is the earliest Italian portrait to focus so closely on the sitter in a half-length portrait. The painting is generous enough in its dimensions to include the arms and hands without them touching the frame. The portrait is painted to a realistic scale in the highly structured space where it has the fullness of volume of a sculpture in the round. The figure is shown in half-length, from the head to the waist, sitting in a chair whose arm is resting on balusters. She is resting her left arm on the arm of the chair, which is placed in front of a loggia, suggested by the parapet behind her and the two fragmentary columns framing the figure and forming a "window" looking out over the landscape. The perfection of this new artistic formula explains its immediate influence on Florentine and Lombard art of the early 16th century. Such aspects of the work as the three-quarter view of a figure against a landscape, the architectural setting, and the hands joined in the foreground were already extant in Flemish portraiture of the second half of the 15th century, particularly in the works of Hans Memling. However, the spacial coherence, the atmospheric illusionism, the monumentality, and the sheer equilibrium of the work were all new. In fact, these aspects were also new to Leonardo's work, as none of his earlier portraits display such controlled majesty.


An emblematic smile

The Mona Lisa's famous smile represents the sitter in the same way that the juniper branches represent Ginevra Benci and the ermine represents Cecilia Gallerani in their portraits, in Washington and Krakow respectively. It is a visual representation of the idea of happiness suggested by the word "gioconda" in Italian. Leonardo made this notion of happiness the central motif of the portrait: it is this notion which makes the work such an ideal. The nature of the landscape also plays a role. The middle distance, on the same level as the sitter's chest, is in warm colors. Men live in this space: there is a winding road and a bridge. This space represents the transition between the space of the sitter and the far distance, where the landscape becomes a wild and uninhabited space of rocks and water which stretches to the horizon, which Leonardo has cleverly drawn at the level of the sitter's eyes.

Answer 2

it's a very mysterious picture. it was created by Leonardo DaVinci. About the picture, nobody knows to this date that did a woman name Mona Lisa even existed? Secondly, in her smile, it's like she's telling something of a secret. Third, nobody knows that is her smile is good or evil, did she smile for good or something evil?

Answer 3

I can't find anything great or even mysterious about Mona Lisa. It is quite a monochrome painting and many believe that there is something special in her smile. Well, one can believe it, and talk about it, and write essays or even a thesis submitted for a university degree about it... but in the end it remains a silly little painted smile .
Just have a look at a painting by Jan Vermeer, called 'Girl with a pearl ear ring'. It is also referred to as the 'Mona Lisa of the North' and is in my opinion much more beautiful and colourful and "mysterious'' (if you want) compared to Leonardos Mona Lisa.

Answer 4

Some art historians have noted that if you cover up the right side of her face then the left side looks like she is sad. If you cover the left side and look at the right, she is smiling. Therefore her expression is alluring because you can't tell what the feeling is behind her smile. Try copying that smile yourself. There is definitely an element of mystery there.

Answer 5

its about the legend,, that when painting these nobels ladies ,,leonardo whould have sex with them ,,and even though he was old,, they say her smile is one of someone with a secret ,,sooo ,,,and also they say the canvass may have had another painting or sketch behind the ladies picture so its mysterious

Answer 6

it's said that there is a hidden meaning behind it. some say da vinci painted it in reflection of himself, that it looks like she has a secret because of the sly look on her face, therefore the secret is that it may be him. a sort of secret self portrait.

Answer 7

she sat still the whole time it took the artist

Answer 8

I hear that... Mona Lisa, aint all that... Its a piece a junk if you ask me!