A couple of days ago, as I was painting a portrait of a dog, Sue asked me if I had seen an article on Mona Lisa. She was puzzled over the numbers and letters that have just been found on the painted eyelids.
I was shocked and delighted. My surprise was because she usually can't focus long enough to listen to the news. My delight was because I got to talk to my sister about one of my favorite subjects~Art!
I was very surprised when I first saw the Mona Lisa as to how small it is. It only measures 30"x21".
Here are a few facts about The Mona Lisa:
Leonardo Da Vinci started painting Mona Lisa in 1503 and finally finished her in 1519.
She was stolen in 1911 and recovered in 1913.
She was damaged by an acid attack in 1956 and a rock also in 1956. A bullet proof glass was put over her, thank goodness! In 1974 a woman tried to spray her with red paint and in 2009 a woman trew a tea cup at her.
She has no eyebrows and no eyebrows. This was thought to be because it was the style for women of the era to pluck their brows and lashes. Now it has just been discovered that she may have orignially had both, but over cleaning removed them.
She has the beautiful flawless skin, and sensuous curves of her hair and clothing because of a technique called sfumato. Sfumato is a blurring or softening of sharp lines. It is created by using thin glazes.
Now we get to the letters and numbers that Sister Sue is concerned about. There is a debate as to when they were painted on her eyelids and whether they exist at all. Some people think they may be cracks in the paint.
What ever the reason, I am grateful to The Mona Lisa {in Italian it is loosely translated to The Madame or The Lady, ie "Madonna"}. She is even more mysterious to me because she broke thru my sweet Sister's brain and gave me a few minutes to talk about something other than medicine. As Sue said, "that was a normal conversation wasn't it". Yes it was Sister, yes it was.
No comments:
Post a Comment