Mona Lisa and Leonardo Da Vinci?

Question

Please help me answer this question....I have no clue how to answer it.

-Write a 3 page essay reflecting on the artist and how the work of art represents the classical humanist tradition.

Answer 1

1) Research DaVinci and his influences: the time he lived, where he lived, what was popular during his time.

2) Research popular art styles of the time. Compare and contrast with DaVinci's works.

3) Research the Mona Lisa painting. A lot has been written about it, some fact and some theory. Look at this and compare the painting with other DaVinci works and other works of the time.

4) Research the classical humanist tradition and what it means and discuss how the Mona Lisa fits or doesn't fit into this tradition.

Answer 2

A small fact to throw for you..

The Mona Lisa that hangs in Louvre's museum wall isn't the original one (as the guide over there said). They keep the original work behind the locks somewhere in storage...

Why on earth is that fairly simple and quite small painting so famous that people keep discussing it, writing 3-page essays about it, keep associating the Mona Lisa with Da Vinci???

from Wikipedia :

'The painting was not well-known until the mid-19th century, when artists of the emerging Symbolist movement began to appreciate it, and associated it with their ideas about feminine mystique. Critic Walter Pater, in his 1867 essay on Leonardo, expressed this view by describing the figure in the painting as a kind of mythic embodiment of eternal femininity, who is "older than the rocks among which she sits" and who "has been dead many times and learned the secrets of the grave."'

PLUS, the Mona Lisa painting became even more famous when someone tried to steal it and managed to do that on August 21, 1911... Aftar this incident this poor painting gained even more value.

I don't even like the painting !

Answer 3

i think the question may relate to Da Vinci's disregard for Christianity as the rule. his art reflected these views in a shadowy, non-conformance's way, not easily understood by those in power ie, the church. look up humanism in 12th century Italian Renaissance.