Mona Lisa

The English language is nobody's special property, it is the property of the imagination, it is the property of the language itself. For poet Derek Walcott the beauty of the English language lies in every single word he weaves together. His poems “a lesson for this for this Sunday is a metaphorical text on the morality of colonizers and those being colonized. The poem focuses on human nature's inability to stay pure and the need to bend nature to its will. “The lesson is the same” is an extended metaphor throughout. the poem to examine human nature and its belief that bigger and stronger will destroy the weaker simply because they can. The persona is also extremely contradictory to his culture, this may also hint at Walcott's own identity crisis, “who break my Sabbath with a thought of sin, Brother and sister with a common pin”, this is evident sarcasm as the persona speaks of the children killing without remorse on God's holy day. The children have been depicted as humanity and not just the colonizers, however this is countered in the third stanza when the persona reveals that the children have also been colonized by a greater being, in this instance it is “science”. Often when we think of African preconceptions we see tribes, slavery and a society that is ruthless, violent and primitive however this role has been switched when the black maid is the one whom leads the children away from the butterfly. A lesson for this Sunday explores

Portraits were once rare
We live in a culture that is so saturated with images, it may be difficult to imagine a time when only the wealthiest people had their likeness captured. The weathy merchents of Renaissance Florence could commission a portrait, but even they would likely only have a single portrait painted during their lifetime. A portrait was about more than likeness, it spoke to status and position. In addition, portraits generally took a long time to paint, and the subject would commonly have to sit for hours or days, while the artist captured their likeness.
The most recognized painting in the world
The Mona Lisa was originally this type of portrait, but over time its meaning has shifted and it has become an icon of the Renaissance, the most recognized painting in the world. The Mona Lisa is a likely a portrait of the wife of a Florentine merchant, and so her gaze would have been meant for her husband. For some reason however, the portrait was never delivered to its patron, and Leonardo kept it with him when he went to work for Francis I, the King of France.

The Mona Lisa's mysterious smile has inspired many writers, singers, and painters. Here's a passage about the Mona Lisa, written by the Victorian-era writer Walter Pater:

We all know the face and hands of the figure, set in its marble chair, in that circle of fantastic rocks, as in some faint light under sea. Perhaps of all ancient pictures time has chilled it least. The presence that thus rose so strangely beside the waters, is expressive of what in the ways of a thousand years men had come to desire. Hers is the head upon which all "the ends of the world are come," and the eyelids are a little weary. It is a beauty wrought out from within upon the flesh, the deposit, little cell by cell, of strange thoughts and fantastic reveries and exquisite passions. Set it for a moment beside one of those white Greek goddesses or beautiful women of antiquity, and how would they be troubled by this beauty, into which the soul with all its maladies has passed!
Early Renaissance artist, Piero della Francesca's Portrait of Battista Sforza (c. 1465-66) is typical of portraits during the Early Renaissance (before Leonardo); figures were often painted in strict profile, and cut off at the bust. Often the figure was posed in front of a birds-eye view of a landscape.

Hans Memling, Portrait of a Young Man at Prayer, ca. 1485-1494 (Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid)A new formula
With Leonardo's portrait, the face is nearly frontal, the shoulders are turned three-quarters toward the viewer, and the hands are included in the image. Leonardo uses his characteristic sfumato—a smokey haziness, to soften outlines and create an atmospheric effect around the figure. When a figure is in profile, we have no real sense of who she is, and there is no sense of engagement. With the face turned toward us, however, we get a sense of the personality of the sitter.

Northern Renaissance artists such as Hans Memling (see the Portrait of a Young Man at Prayer, c. 1485-1494, right) had already created portraits of figures in positions similar to the Mona Lisa. Memling had even located them in believable spaces. Leonardo combined these Northern innovations with Italian painting's understanding of the three dimensionality of the body and the perspectival treatment of the surrounding space.

A Recent Discovery
An important copy of the Mona Lisa was recently discovered in the collection of the Prado in Madrid. The background had been painted over, but when the painting was cleaned, scientific analysis revealed that the copy was likely painted by another artist who sat beside Leonardo and copied his work, brush-stroke by brush-stroke. The copy gives us an idea of what the Mona Lisa might look like if layers of yellowed varnish were removed.
Mona Lisa, oil painting on a poplar wood panel by the Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer Leonardo da Vinci, probably the world’s most-famous painting. It was painted sometime between 1503 and 1506, when da Vinci was living in Florence, and it now hangs in the Louvre, in Paris, where it remains an object of pilgrimage in the 21st century. The poplar panel shows evidence of warping and was stabilized in 1951 with the addition of an oak frame and in 1970 with four vertical braces. Dovetails also were added, to prevent the widening of a small crack visible near the centre of the upper edge of the painting. The sitter’s mysterious smile and her unproven identity have made the painting a source of ongoing investigation and fascination. Alternate titles: “La Gioconda”
Table of Contents

Introduction The Mona Lisa and its influence Other Mona Lisas Mona Lisa off the wall

Mona Lisa, oil painting on a poplar wood panel by the Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer Leonardo da Vinci, probably the world’s most-famous painting. It was painted sometime between 1503 and 1506, when da Vinci was living in Florence, and it now hangs in the Louvre, in Paris, where it remains an object of pilgrimage in the 21st century. The poplar panel shows evidence of warping and was stabilized in 1951 with the addition of an oak frame and in 1970 with four vertical braces. Dovetails also were added, to prevent the widening of a small crack visible near the centre of the upper edge of the painting. The sitter’s mysterious smile and her unproven identity have made the painting a source of ongoing investigation and fascination.

Images quizzes Lists

The Mona Lisa and its influence

These signs of aging distract little from the painting’s effect. In its exquisite synthesis of sitter and landscape, the Mona Lisa set the standard for all future portraits. The painting presents a woman in half-body portrait, which has as a backdrop a distant landscape. Yet this simple description of a seemingly standard composition gives little sense of Leonardo’s achievement. The sensuous curves of the sitter’s hair and clothing, created through sfumato (use of fine shading), are echoed in the shapes of the valleys and rivers behind her. The sense of overall harmony achieved in the painting—especially apparent in the sitter’s faint smile—reflects Leonardo’s idea of the cosmic link connecting humanity and nature, making this painting an enduring record of Leonardo’s vision.

There has been much speculation and debate regarding the identity of the portrait’s sitter. Scholars and historians have posited numerous interpretations, including that she is Lisa del Giocondo (née Gherardini), the wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo, hence the alternative title to the work, La Gioconda. That identity was first suggested in 1550 by artist biographer Giorgio Vasari. Another theory was that the model may have been Leonardo’s mother, Caterina. That interpretation was put forth by, among others, Sigmund Freud, who seemed to think that the Mona Lisa’s mysterious smile emerged from a—perhaps unconscious—memory of Caterina’s smile. A third suggestion was that the painting was, in fact, Leonardo’s self-portrait, given the resemblance between the sitter’s and the artist’s facial features. Some scholars suggested that disguising himself as a woman was the artist’s riddle. The sitter’s identity has not been conclusively proven. In an attempt to settle the debate, art and forensic experts in August 2013 opened the tomb of the Giocondo family in Florence in order to find Lisa del Giocondo’s remains, test her DNA, and recreate an image of her face.

Whatever the sitter’s identity, the influence of the Mona Lisa on the Renaissance and later times has been enormous. The Mona Lisa revolutionized contemporary portrait painting. Leonardo’s preliminary drawings encouraged other artists to make more and freer studies for their paintings and stimulated connoisseurs to collect those drawings. Through the drawings his Milanese works were made known to the Florentines. Also, his reputation and stature as an artist and thinker spread to his fellow artists and assured for them a freedom of action and thought similar to his own. One such painter was the young Raphael, who sketched Leonardo’s work in progress and adopted the Mona Lisa format for his portraits; it served as a clear model for his Portrait of Maddalena Doni (c. 1506).

Leonardo even influenced the fashion in which artists dressed their subjects. In his Treatise on Painting, published long after his death, he wrote that art should avoid the fashion:

As far as possible avoid the costumes of your own day.…Costumes of our period should not be depicted unless it be on tombstones, so that we may be spared being laughed at by our successors for the mad fashions of men and leave behind only things that may be admired for their dignity and beauty.

The Mona Lisa demonstrates this aspect of his treatise perfectly in that La Giaconda is dressed in a coloured shift, loosely pleated at the neck, instead of the tight clothes that were then popular.
Other Mona Lisas

At least a dozen excellent replicas of the Mona Lisa exist, many of them by the master’s students. The proliferation of Mona Lisas reflects, at least in part, the subject’s almost immediate embodiment of the ideal woman—beautiful, enigmatic, receptive, and still just out of reach.

Over the centuries this quintessential woman has taken on a new life in popular culture. In the 20th century alone, her iconic status was mocked in schoolboy fashion—the addition of a mustache and goatee to a postcard reproduction—in Marcel Duchamp’s readymade, L.H.O.O.Q. (1919). His irreverent defacing of this best known of iconic paintings expressed the Dadaists’ scorn for the art of the past, which in their eyes was part of the infamy of a civilization that had produced the horrors of the First World War just ended. Andy Warhol too took aim at the painting’s status, in his 1963 serigraph Mona Lisa.
Mona Lisa off the wall

References in the visual arts have been complemented by musical examinations. La Giaconda’s personality and quirks were examined in a 1915 opera by Max von Schillings. Leonardo’s portrait is also the inspiration for the classic song “"Mona Lisa"” by American lyricist Ray Evans and songwriter Jay Harold Livingston:

Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa Men have named you You’re so like the lady with the mystic smile Is it only ’cause you’re lonely They have blamed you For that Mona Lisa strangeness in your smile

Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Lisa Or is this your way to hide a broken heart Many dreams have been brought to your doorstep They just lie there, and they die there Are you warm, are you real, Mona Lisa Or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art

It was famously recorded in 1950 by the jazz pianist and vocalist Nat King Cole and later by his daughter Natalie, as well as many others.

There have been films, notably Mona Lisa (1986), and several novels, including William Gibson’s cyberpunk Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) and Canadian novelist Rachel Wyatt’s Mona Lisa Smiled a Little (1999), linked to the painting. The Argentine writer Martín Caparrós’s novel Valfierno (2004) brings to life the man who masterminded the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre.

Both fine art and kitsch continue to refer to Leonardo’s portrait. Bath towels, tapestries, umbrellas, and many other household items bear her image, and that image is reproduced using everything from train tickets to rice plants. Five centuries after its creation, the Mona Lisa remains a touchstone for people around the world.

A
SAMPLE
ANSWER
QUESTION:
The poems
Theme for English
B
and
Test Match Sabina Park deal with racism or aspects of racism. For EACH poem:
a) Choose ONE important image and describe how it influences the reader’s response to the poem.
b) Describe the attitude of the speaker.
c) Identify ONE figurative device in EACH poem and discuss its effectiveness.
One important image in
Theme for English B is that of the college which the speaker attends.
He descri bes it as being “on the hill above Harlem” .This description must be taken literally as well as figuratively. The word “above
”
is significant.
We must conclude that in a ddition to wanting the reader to see that the college is literally an imposing structur e located above Harlem, the poet wants us to recognize the contrast between the social environment of the college and that of Harlem.
The college is a prestigious institution attended by persons who are mainly white
,
relatively wealthy and privileged.
This
is verified by the fact that the speaker is the only black student in his class.
By contrast Harlem is peopled by the poor, the black and the underprivileged. The reader therefore also sees the college as being “above” Harlem because of the advantages tha t those who attend that institution have over the people in Harlem.
However
the speaker’s educatio n does not make him think that he is above the people in
Harlem in the sense of being better than they are
. In searching for his identity, he observes:
“ But I guess I’m what / I feel and see and hear, Harlem I hear you:”
.
He recognizes in his search for truth that Harlem has an impact on shaping who he is. At the same time, he makes it clear that he is a man of diverse tastes
. He enjoys activitie s that people of every race and social stratum enjoy, including some that are associated with white people. He seems to be saying that he is a part of the universal human experience and does not want to be confined to any racial + stereotype .
He sees that the lives of blacks and whites are inevitably intertwined. In his search for truth, he admits that there are racial tensions
.
“Sometimes perhaps you
(the white professor) don’t want to be a part of me. / Nor do I often want to be a part of you. / But we are, that’s true!”
His
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American
society
.
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“So will my page be coloured that I write?”
T
his metaphorical rhetorical question is effective in two ways. First of all it adds wry humour to the poem since of course, the page will not literally change colour sim ply because of what he writes on it or because of the colour of his skin .
He is asking whether what he writes will be typical of a black man’s experiences.
It
also reiterates the poi nt that there is more to a person than his colour.

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.
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.
Bibliography

- ARASSE Daniel, Léonard de Vinci, Éditions Hazan, Paris,1997.

- BEGUIN Sylvie (sous la dir. de), Musée du Louvre. Hommage à Léonard de Vinci, catalogue de l'exposition, Éditions des Musées nationaux, Paris, 1952.

- BEGUIN Sylvie, Léonard de Vinci au Louvre, Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris, 1983.

- CLARK Kenneth, Léonard de Vinci, Éditions Le Livre de poche, Paris, 1967.

- CHASTEL André, L'illustre incomprise. Mona Lisa, collection "Art et Écrivain", Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 1988.

- CHASTEL André, Léonard de Vinci, Traité de la peinture, Éditions Calmann-Lévy, Paris, 2003.

- KEMP Martin, Leonardo Da Vinci : the marvelous Works of Nature and Man, Cambridge Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1981.

- MARANI Pietro C., Léonard de Vinci, Éditions Gallimard-Electa, Paris, 1996.

- SCALLIEREZ Cécile, La Joconde, collection "Solo", Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris, 2003, n°24.

- ZÖLLNER Frank, Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, Das Portrât der Lisa del Giocondo, Legende und geschichte, Francfort, 1994.

- ZÖLLNER Frank, NATHAN Johannes (sous la dir. de), Léonard de Vinci, 1452-1519 : tout l'oeuvre peint et graphique, Cologne, Londres, Paris, Éditions Taschen, 2003.

On August 21, 1911, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, one of the most famous paintings in the world, was stolen right off the wall of the Louvre (famous museum in Paris, France). It was such an inconceivable crime, that the Mona Lisa wasn't even noticed missing until the following day.

Who would steal such a famous painting? Why did they do it? Was the Mona Lisa lost forever?

The Discovery

Everyone had been talking about the glass panes that museum officials at the Louvre had put in front of several of their most important paintings. Museum officials stated it was to help protect the paintings, especially because of recent acts of vandalism. The public and the press thought the glass was too reflective.
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Louis Béroud, a painter, decided to join in the debate by painting a young French girl fixing her hair in the reflection from the pane of glass in front of the Mona Lisa.

On Tuesday, August 22, 1911, Béroud walked into the Louvre and went to the Salon Carré where the Mona Lisa had been on display for five years. But on the wall where the Mona Lisa used to hang, in between Correggio's Mystical Marriage and Titian's Allegory of Alfonso d'Avalos, sat only four iron pegs.

Béroud contacted the section head of the guards, who thought the painting must be at the photographers'. A few hours later, Béroud checked back with the section head. It was then discovered the Mona Lisa was not with the photographers. The section chief and other guards did a quick search of the museum -- no Mona Lisa.

Since Théophile Homolle, the museum director, was on vacation, the curator of Egyptian antiquities was contacted. He, in turn, called the Paris police. About 60 investigators were sent over to the Louvre shortly after noon. They closed the museum and slowly let out the visitors. They then continued the search.
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It was finally determined that it was true -- the Mona Lisa had been stolen.

The Louvre was closed for an entire week to aid the investigation. When it was reopened, a line of people had come to solemnly stare at the empty space on the wall, where the Mona Lisa had once hung. An anonymous visitor left a bouquet of flowers.1

"[Y]ou might as well pretend that one could steal the towers of the cathedral of Notre Dame," stated Théophile Homolle, museum director of the Louvre, approximately a year before the theft. 2 (He was forced to resign soon after the robbery.)

The Clues

Unfortunately, there wasn't much evidence to go on. The most important discovery was found on the first day of the investigation. About an hour after the 60 investigators began searching the Louvre, they found the controversial plate of glass and Mona Lisa's frame lying in a staircase. The frame, an ancient one donated by Countess de Béarn two years prior, had not been damaged. Investigators and others speculated that the thief grabbed the painting off the wall, entered the stairwell, removed the painting from its frame, then somehow left the museum unnoticed. But when did all this take place?

Investigators began to interview guards and workers to determine when the Mona Lisa went missing. One worker remembered having seen the painting around 7 o'clock on Monday morning (a day before it was discovered missing), but noticed it gone when he walked by the Salon Carré an hour later. He had assumed a museum official had moved it.

Further research discovered that the usual guard in the Salon Carré was home (one of his children had the measles) and his replacement admitted leaving his post for a few minutes around 8 o'clock to smoke a cigarette. All of this evidence pointed to the theft occurring somewhere between 7:00 and 8:30 on Monday morning.

But on Mondays, the Louvre was closed for cleaning. So, was this an inside job? Approximately 800 people had access to the Salon Carré on Monday morning. Wandering throughout the museum were museum officials, guards, workmen, cleaners and photographers. Interviews with these people brought out very little. One person thought they had seen a stranger hanging out, but he was unable to match the stranger's face with photos at the police station.

The investigators brought in Alphonse Bertillon, a famous fingerprint expert. He found a thumbprint on the Mona Lisa's frame, but he was unable to match it with any in his files.

There was a scaffold against one side of the museum that was there to aid the installation of an elevator. This could have given access to a would-be thief to the museum.

Besides believing that the thief had to have at least some internal knowledge of the museum, there really wasn't much evidence. So, who dunnit?
Historians agree that Leonardo commenced the painting of Mona Lisa in 1503, working on it for approximately four years and keeping it himself for some years after. Supposedly this was because Mona Lisa was Leonardo's favourite painting and he was loathe to part with it, however it may also have been because the painting was unfinished. Whatever the reason, much later it was sold to the King of France for four thousand gold crowns. The world has talked about it ever since. After the revolution in France the painting was transferred to the Louvre. Napoleon took possession of it using the panel to decorate his bedroom. Upon his banishment from France Mona Lisa once more returned to the care of the Louvre. What is certain is that the painting was never passed onto the rightful owner, that being the man who originally commissioned and presumably paid for it. .

The first written reference to the painting appears in the diary of Antonio de' Beatis who visited Leonardo on the 10th October 1517. He was shown three paintings by the master, who was aged sixty-five at the time. These three consisted of one of the Madonna and Child in the lap of St. Anne, one of a young St. John the Baptist and a third of a Florentine lady.

Who was the lady in question? At this time researchers remain uncertain of the sitter's identity with some claiming she was Isabella of Aragon -- the widowed Duchess of Milan; they point out the 'widows veil' on her head as supporting evidence. Others conclude she was the mistress of Giuliano de' Medici, but the veil on her head may well be a symbol of chastity, commonly shown at the time in portraits of married women. The path shown may also be the 'path of virtue', a reference to the story 'Hercules choice'; this was frequently referred to in Renaissance art and would be unlikely to appear in a painting of a mistress. It is probable that she was Mona Lisa Gherardini, the third wife of wealthy silk merchant Francesco di Bartolommeo di Zanobi del Giocondo. At this stage Lisa would have been over twenty-four years of age, by the standards of the time she was not in any way considered particularly beautiful, though Leonardo saw certain qualities which have now made her the most heavily insured woman in history.

The smile has become a hallmark of Leonardo's style. It is most obvious in the painting of the Mona Lisa, but also to be seen in most of his other works. There is no mistaking the same smile -- and upturn of the left side of the mouth -- on the face of St. Anne in the Burlington House Cartoon. That drawing dates from a bit earlier than the Mona Lisa, somewhere around 1498. Speculation exists that the smile originated from his mother, Caterina. A less romantic suggestion is that the painter merely "concerned himself with certain arrangements of lines and volumes, with new and curious schemes of blues and greens."

Various other suggestions have also been made as to the reason behind the smile including the simple idea that during this period in history women were instructed to smile only with one side of their mouths so as to add an air of mystery and elegance. An Italian doctor's answer was that the woman suffered from bruxism; this is an unconscious habit of grinding the teeth during sleep or times of great stress. The long months of sitting for the portrait could well have triggered an attack of teeth grinding. Leonardo did attempt to keep his subject relaxed and entertained with the use of music; he had six musicians to play for her plus and installed a musical fountain invented by himself. Different, beautiful works were read out loud and a white Persian cat and a greyhound bitch were there for playing with.

The most unusual suggestion is that Mona Lisa was really a man in disguise, perhaps being a form of self-portrait and the face of Leonardo himself. Computer tests show some of the facial features match well that of another(?)self-portrait of Leonardo. Some copies of the Mona Lisa also show the sitter as a male.

The truth is that this style of smile was not invented by Leonardo da Vinci. It can be found in a number of sculptures from the fifteenth century, one of these being Antonio Rossellino's Virgin; it is somewhat reminiscent of Greek funerary statues and Gothic statues in medieval cathedrals. The mysterious smile can also be found very widely in the works of Leonardo's master, Verrocchio and Leonardo used the same smile in a number of his paintings.
Much has also been made about the Mona Lisa's 'uncommonly thick' eyebrows, a belief which came about after Vasari wrote a description of the painting. A close examination of the above detail shows there aren't any eyebrows; women of the time commonly shaved these off. Vasari had never seen the Mona Lisa and though it is popular to quote his text on the painting it must be realised he wrote his treatise based entirely upon hearsay. Despite this, he was totally accurate in stating that, "On looking at the pit of the throat one could swear that the pulses were beating."

The most expressive parts of the human face are the outer points of the lips and eyes. Leonardo has deliberately left these areas in shadow which creates the effect of causing different people to read different emotions on the face of the sitter, whomever she may be.

Mona Lisa is distinguished by her complete absence of jewellery whereas the norm for the day was to present subjects with elaborate decoration as can be seen in the painting done by Titan of Caterina Cornaro, Queen Of Cyprus. Mona Lisa's hair is smooth with only the covering of a black veil, hands are free of rings or bracelets and nothing adorns her neck. There are small intricate loops across the neckline of her dress; such was Leonardo's interest in codes that many people have searched in vain for a message in these loops. This painting went against all the trends of the time and is a perfect example of how Leonardo never followed traditions. He abandoned the usual poses, which had subjects shown as stiff and upright, replacing this with a relaxed sitter, her beautifully painted hands resting easily on the arm of her chair.

While most people are aware the Mona Lisa is also called La Gioconda by the Italians (translation: "a light-hearted woman."), fewer know the French refer to it as La Joconde. Done in oils on poplar wood it was originally much larger than it is today. Two columns on either side of Mona Lisa have been cut off making it difficult to recognise she was seated on a terrace. The bases of these columns can just be seen on the very edges of the painting which now measures only 77 x 53 cms.

At the time Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa he was also doing some of his finest sketches of plant life and nature. This can be clearly seen in the background of the panel and it is very elaborate, perhaps the finest he ever did. The bridge shown has now been identified as being at Buriano (Arezzo).

The painting of Mona Lisa has had an interesting history being stolen on the 21st August 1911 from an Italian thief who had taken the painting to Italy. The loss of the painting was not reported for twenty-four hours as most employees assumed it had been removed by the official museum photographer. It then took a week to search the 49-acre Louvre with the only find being the painting's frame, which was located in a staircase. It resurfaced some two years later in Florence, when an Italian named Vincenzo Perugia offered to sell the painting to the Uffizi Gallery for US$100,000. It was exhibited for a time and then returned to Paris.

To steal the painting Perugia had spent a night hiding in a little-used room at the Louvre. While the museum was closed he simply walked into the room where the Mona Lisa was hung, removed it from the wall then cut it from the frame once he reached the staircase. He then exited the building breaking out through a 'locked' door by unscrewing the doorknob. Ten months prior to the theft the Louvre had made the decision to begin having their masterpieces placed under glass. Perugia was one of four men assigned to the job and so in a position to get to know the Louvre well enough to pull off the crime.

In 1956 acid was thrown on the lower half of the painting with the required restoration taking some years.

The situation today is that the Mona Lisa has become so well-known that it may only be viewed behind thick protective glass after battling through a large crowd of sightseers. The cover of triplex glass which protects the painting was gifted by the Japanese during the Mona Lisa's 1974 visit to Japan -- that being the last time it left the museum. By international agreement the painting will no longer be displayed in other countries but will stay safely on display at the Louvre in Paris where it may be properly protected against further damage, theft or attack. The bulletproof box is kept at a constant 68 degrees Fahrenheit with a humidity of 55 percent; a built-in air conditioner and nine pounds of silica gel ensure no change in the air condition. Once a year the box is opened to check the painting and for maintenance on the air conditioning system.

Time may have cracked and crazed the paintwork of the Mona Lisa, but the air of mystery remains. It has been endlessly reproduced, has inspired numerous writers, poets and musicians, yet remains little understood. The same style can be seen used by other masters such as Raphael (Maddalena Doni) and Carot (Dame à la Perle). Many naked women have been painted or drawn in the attitude of the Mona Lisa and these were a favourite on the occasions when artists were called on to portray royals in their baths. The Carrara Academy in Bergamo has just one of many nude versions, this one having been painted in the 17th century. Copying of the Mona Lisa style started even before the painting was finished.

By far the most controversial version of the Mona Lisa is in the Vernon collection in the U.S. This painting clearly shows the columns on either side of the sitter which have been cut off the Louvre example. The owners consider the artwork to be authentic and value it at $2.5 million.

The last work done on the panel was in the 1950's when age spots were removed during a cleaning. Suggestions that the painting should experience a thorough facelift involving the removal of layers of resin, lacquer and varnish from the past 500 years have received a firm thumbs down from the Louvre. Computer restoration shows that the colours of the painting may be quite different without the grime that presently covers it. Rosy cheeks instead of sickly yellow, pale blue skies instead of the present green glow. On the downside, any attempt to clean the painting may result in irreparable damage from the various solvents required to remove the varnish and there is no guarantee the suspected bright colours exist below the coatings which have been applied over the years as a protectant. For those lucky enough to have viewed the work under natural light state there is still a surprising amount of colour evident to the eye, maybe more is below the grime, but no one dares to clean her. X-rays have shown there are three different versions of the Mona Lisa hidden under the present one.
Leonardo da Vinci left us numerous masterpieces that we still study and marvel at today. One such masterpiece, the 16th century oil painting of the Mona Lisa, also referred to as ‘La Giaconda’, is considered by the art world to be one of his most famous works. The history of the Mona Lisa has long garnered much attention and stirred controversy with regard to the identity of the woman who sat for the painting.

It is said that the painting was commissioned by the wealthy silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo and his wife Lisa. The couple wanted it for their new home, and to mark the birth of their second child. Many believe that the woman in the painting is indeed Lisa del Giocondo. However, the debate still continues today.
Da Vinci started the piece in 1503 and worked on it for four years; then, he set it aside. He moved to France in 1516 when the French King invited him, and resumed his work on the Mona Lisa. It took another three years to complete.

Theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911
Part of the Mona Lisa history includes a robbery that caused much ado. The painting was displayed in the Salon Carre, in the Louvre. On August 21, 1911, an artist went to the museum to admire the notable painting and discovered instead an empty space; the Mona Lisa had been taken from the Louvre.

The museum was shut down for a week in order to pursue the investigation. French poet Guillaume Apollinaire was arrested and jailed on the suspicion that he was somehow associated with the theft. He, in turn, accused his friend Pablo Picasso. Eventually, both men were cleared of any wrongdoing.

In 1912, two years after the theft, the Mona Lisa was found. It is believed that Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia stole the painting and left with it under his coat after closing hours.

One hypothesis regarding the reason behind the theft is that Peruggia was convinced that the painting belonged in Italy because it was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. Another hypothesis is that his friend had been selling copies of the Mona Lisa, and figured that the value of the copies would increase if the original had vanished.

Vincenzo Peruggia was caught trying to sell the painting. The Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre in 1913, where it still hangs to this day, and continues to intrigue its viewers.
The Creation of the Mona Lisa

Leonardo DaVinci never really stopped working on the Mona Lisa. Technically, he completed it in 1507, but the only thing that ended his work on it was his death in 1519. It was another 300 years before anyone outside of Italy took any notice of it and declared it a masterpiece of the Renaissance. DaVinci had applied techniques and elements new to the era. The Mona Lisa's skin appears to glow from the layers of transparent oils. DaVinci was a scientist and applied what he knew of anatomy to give the Mona Lisa realism. He used what he learned from studying the changing colors of landscapes. Even the Mona Lisa's iconic smile and the landscape background were new artistic elements. As for who sat for the portrait, nobody knows. Perhaps the Mona Lisa is just a product of DaVinci's imagination.
The Mona Lisa Goes to the Louvre

When he died, DaVinci left the Mona Lisa to his friend and patron, King Francois I. The king kept the painting in his private quarters at the Palace of Fontainebleau and wound up with such a collection of art, his room was converted into an art gallery. Louis XV took it to the Palace of Versailles and for a little while the painting hung in Napoleon's bedroom in the Tuileries Palace. However, the Mona Lisa found a permanent home in 1793 when the Louvre opened in Paris and the royal art collection was made available to the public. During World War II, there was concern that the Mona Lisa would either be damaged by bombs or stolen by the Nazis. So, the painting was taken away by ambulance in 1939 and spent the war in hiding.
The Mona Lisa is Stolen

Other than spending the night in a stuffy supply closet, stealing the Mona Lisa was relatively simple. Vincenzo Perugia and his two accomplices made their move on the morning of August 21, 1911. It took three men to do it because the frame and the protective glass case, which Perugia helped install, weighed 200 pounds. After getting the painting out of the frame, they wrapped it in a blanket and simply walked away. It was not until the next day that a visitor noticed it was gone. The Mona Lisa was far from the most famous work of art in the Louvre but that all changed with the theft. The police blamed the museum staff, the museum staff accused the police of incompetence, and suddenly visitors lined up just to see the empty spot on the wall where the Mona Lisa once hung.
The Mona Lisa is quite possibly the most well-known piece of painted artwork in the entire world. It was painted by the Leonardo Da Vinci, the famous Italian artist, between 1504 and 1519, and is a half body commission for a woman named Lisa Gherardini. Her husband, Francesco Del Giocondo requested the work by Da Vinci just after the turn of the century. It is perhaps the most studied piece of artwork ever known. The subject’s facial expression has brought about a source of debate for centuries, as her face remains largely enigmatic in the portrait. Originally commissioned in Italy, it is now at home in the French Republic, and hangs on display in the Louvre in Paris.
Background
The work was requested by subject’s husband, Francesco Del Giocondo. Lisa was from a well-known family known through Tuscany and Florence and married to Francesco Del Giocondo who was a very wealthy silk merchant. The work was to celebrate their home’s completion, as well as a celebration of the birth of their second son. Not until 2005 was the identity of Mona Lisa‘s subject fully understood, though years of speculation have suggested the true identity of the painting’s subject.

Leonardo da Vinci

The Mona Lisa is famous for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons, of course, for the popularity of the painting is the artist himself. Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps the most recognized artist in the world. Not only was Da Vinci an artist, but he was also a scientist, inventor, and a doctor. His study of the human form came from the study of actual human cadavers.

Because of his ability to study from the actual form of the human, he was able to draw and paint it more accurately than any other artist of his time. While the Mona Lisa may be revered as the greatest piece of artwork of all time, Da Vinci was known more for his ability to draw than to paint. Currently there are only a handful of paintings of Da Vinci’s, mostly because of his largely experimental style of art, and his habit of procrastination. Among his most famous sketches is the Vitruvian Man, which anybody who has ever studied anatomy, human biology, or art knows very well.

But most prominently Da Vinci has been known throughout the centuries as a scientist and inventor. Amongst his ideas were a rudimentary helicopter and a tank. Some of his more notable paintings include the Mona Lisa, of course, as well as The Last Supper. He used a variety of different surfaces to paint on, attributing to a lot of his failures (and a lot of his successes) as a painter. Many of his paintings are biblical in nature, but as his talent and notoriety grew, he was commissioned more regularly for portraits.
Techniques Applied

The Mona Lisa is an oil painting, with a cottonwood panel as the surface. It is unusual in that most paintings are commissioned as oil on canvas, but the cottonwood panel is part of what has attributed to the fame of the painting. Because of the medium used for the image, the Mona Lisa has survived for six centuries without ever having been restored–a trait very unusual when considering the time period of the piece.

While most of the artwork of the Renaissance period depicts biblical scenes, it was the style and technique of the paintings of this period which make them distinguished from other eras of artwork. Anatomically correct features are one of the identifiable marks of this period of history in art, and the Mona Lisa stands out amongst the great paintings for the detail in her hands, eyes, and lips. Da Vinci used a shadowing technique at the corners of her lips as well as the corners of her eyes which give her an extremely lifelike appearance and look of amusement. Her portrait is such that to an observer, they are standing right before Lisa Del Giocondo, with the arms of her chair as the barrier between the observer and the subject of the painting.

Da Vinci also created a background with aerial views and a beautiful landscape, but muted from the vibrant lightness of the subject’s face and hands. The technique Da Vinci used in executing the painting left behind no visible brush marks, something that was said to make any master painter lose heart. It is truly a masterpiece.
Theft

The Mona Lisa disappeared from the Louvre in France in 1911. Pablo Picasso was on the original list of suspects questioned and jailed for the theft, but he was later exonerated. For two years, the masterpiece was thought to be forever lost. However in 1913, Italian patriot Vincenzo Perugia was arrested for the crime of stealing the famous painting, and the original artwork returned to its home at the Louvre in Paris. Perugia was an employee of the Louvre at the time, and he believed the painting belonged to Italy. For two years he kept the famous piece of art housed in his apartment, but was discovered when he tried selling to a gallery in Florence, Italy.
Vandalism

Over the centuries, the famous painting has withstood attempts at vandalism as well. The first occurrence of vandalism was in 1956 when somebody threw acid at the bottom half, severely damaging the timeless masterpiece. That same year, another vandal threw a rock at the work, removing a chip of paint from near her elbow. It was later painted over. Afterwards, the piece was put under bulletproof glass as a means of protection has kept the painting from further attempts at vandalism and destruction.

This painting has long been caricaturized in cartoons, has been replicated all over the world, and has been studied by scholars and art enthusiasts alike. The painting is the most widely recognized work of art in the entire world. The oil on cottonwood panel commission of Francesco del Giocondo’s used such precise detail to give an unbelievably lifelike appearance to the painting’s subject. This piece of Renaissance artwork completely changed the techniques and style of painting, and is revered around the world as the greatest masterpiece of all time.
Let's begin with an easy one. Who was the famous painter who created the masterpiece of "Mona Lisa"?

Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci painted the "Mona Lisa" from 1503 to 1506 in Italy. In addition to being a talented painter, he was an inventor and a scientist.

Where does the painting hang today?

The Louvre Museum in France. Though painted in Italy, since the 16th century, when she came into the possession of Francois I, King of France, she has remained in that country. She currently hangs in the famous Louvre museum, where she has been since 1804 and now has her own room.

What was the real name of the woman who posed as "Mona Lisa"?

Lisa Gherardini Giocondo. Lisa Gheradini Giocondo was about 25 when she posed for Leo's painting. She was the daughter and wife of wealthy men and it is believed her husband paid Leo for her to be painted. She started as Mia Donna Lisa (my lady Lisa) and it got shorted to Monna Lisa. Due to a spelling error in English it is now known as "Mona Lisa". She is called "La Giocondo" in Italian and "La Joconde" in French. (By the way, 'materassino ad aria' is Italian for air mattress.)

What was the "Mona Lisa" painted on?

poplar wood panel. da Vinci used oil paints on a poplar wood panel. The panel is 30 inches tall and about 20 inches wide.

When was the "Mona Lisa" stolen?

1911. Employee Vincenzo Peruggia smuggled her out under his smock when he was in the room alone in the Louvre. Two years later, in 1913, she was returned after he attempted to sell the painting in Florence.

Was the "Mona Lisa" insured when she was returned after being stolen?

n. The "Mona Lisa" is valued as a priceless item and is not insured.

Approximately how many people visit the "Mona Lisa" each year?

6 million. Over 6 million people visit the Louvre every year and the "Mona Lisa" is viewed by nearly all of them.

During World War II, was the "Mona Lisa" taken out of the museum for her safety?

y. The Louvre actually boarded up almost all of the works of art and sent them away by train to protect them during the war.

One of the reasons that the "Mona Lisa" is considered such an amazing painting is due to the revolutionary new technique Leonardo used. What was it?

blending light and shade. The blending of light and shade Leonardo used is called sfumato.

Other artists have made many reproductions and alterations to the painting. Who was the artist that added a mustache and goatee on "Mona Lisa"?

Marcel Duchamp. He added this to a postcard in 1919 bearing the "Mona Lisa" and it became his most famous painting.

Why does the Mona Lisa smile? Because she's laughing inside at all the garbage that is reported about her.

It is time to tell some home truths about the Leonardo da Vinci industry. This great artist really deserves better than the media circus of pseudoscience and hocus pocus that surrounds his art. No genius merits closer attention from today's world than Leonardo. His mind, as revealed in his notebooks, is a source of endless fascination, just as his few surviving paintings are infinitely enigmatic. But instead of stories or interpretations that enrich our understanding of Leonardo, the world media delights in endless tittle-tattle and nonsense that just makes his art less meaningful, and reduces him to a bearded magus who painted empty icons.

The latest story concerns a team of archaeologists who are optimistically searching for the bones of Lisa Gherardini, the model for the Mona Lisa, in a convent in Florence. What are the chances of finding that particular skeleton among all the nuns ever buried there?

Needle. Haystack. Those are the words that come to mind, and when you read the small print, the investigators are not even claiming to have found the bones they covet.

What would this skeleton, supposing it was actually to be found, reveal about the Mona Lisa? Inane reports say it can reveal the secret of Lisa's smile. How, exactly, can a skull explain a miracle of painting?

An x-ray image taken of the Mona Lisa in the laboratories of the Louvre, which owns Leonardo's painting, suggests that when he first sketched out his portrait of a Florentine merchant's wife in 1503 she did not smile at all. The smile, in other words, emerged as he reworked the painting over several years. It is his artistic creation. Everything about this painting is richly worked. Its meaning lies in his imagination and his ideas, not in some secret skeletal clue buried in a vault.

This kind of sensationalist story just feeds the attitude that causes some people to stand in front of the Mona Lisa taking cameraphone pictures instead of looking at her.

Only last week an equally daft Leonardo story splatted against the wall of reality like the rotten tomato it was. This was the silly claim that a copy of the Mona Lisa is actually Leonardo's first painting of her. This claim was never going anywhere. Not only is the supposed "Leonardo" painted on canvas, whereas he painted on wooden panels, but it doesn't look like his handiwork at all. It has no trace of his ineffable tender touch. It is a copy.

Leonardo da Vinci is an artist who deserves the fuss. In a way, the more stories about him the merrier. But please. We have had enough of these sub-Dan Brown fantasies that just get in the way of the power of a profound genius.
Born: 1503
Birthplace: Florence, Italy
Best known as:

Famous portrait by Leonardo da Vinci

The Mona Lisa is a famous 16th-century portrait by Leonardo da Vinci. The Mona Lisa's mysterious smile has beguiled generations of viewers, but the true identity of the woman pictured in the portrait remains unknown, despite intensive research by art historians. Many believe the Mona Lisa to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini Giocondo, the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant, Francesco del Giocondo. (Thus the Mona Lisa is known in Italy as La Gioconda.) Others have suggested the subject was a mistress of da Vinci, or even a self-portrait, with da Vinci imagining himself as a woman. It is known that Leonardo began the portrait in Florence in 1503, continued work on it through 1506, and then kept the painting until his death in 1519. Over the next three centuries the Mona Lisa passed through many hands, even hanging for a time in the bedroom of Napoleon, but since 1804 its home has been the Louvre Museum in Paris. Leonardo's painting is famous among artists for its innovative techniques, including sfumato (shown in the painting's distinctive hazy, soft-focus effect) and chiaroscuro (use of light and shadow).
Extra credit:

The Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, but recovered in Italy in 1913... Some believe that the name La Gioconda is a play on "the merry woman," a reference to her smile. In France, the Mona Lisa is called La Joconde... The popular tune Mona Lisa calls her "the lady with the mystic smile." The song was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for the 1950 movie Captain Carey, USA; it won an Oscar as the year's best song and was also a hit for Nat King Cole.

Read more: Mona Lisa Biography (Artist's Model) | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/monalisa.html#ixzz3CSYVHaza

25 Secrets of Mona Lisa Revealed
By Jeanna Bryner, Managing Editor | October 18, 2007 12:23pm ET
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[Pin It] Images of the Mona Lisa reveal hidden details in infrared and visible light.
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New images uncover 25 secrets about the Mona Lisa, including proof that Leonardo da Vinci gave her eyebrows, solving a long-held mystery.

The images are part of an exhibition, "Mona Lisa Secrets Revealed," which features new research by French engineer Pascal Cotte and debuts in the United States at the Metreon Center in San Francisco, where it will remain through the end of this year. The Mona Lisa showcase is part of a larger exhibition called "Da Vinci: An Exhibition of Genius."

Cotte, founder of Lumiere Technology, scanned the painting with a 240-megapixel Multi-spectral Imaging Camera he invented, which uses 13 wavelengths from ultraviolet light to infrared. The resulting images peel away centuries of varnish and other alterations, shedding light on how the artist brought the painted figure to life and how she appeared to da Vinci and his contemporaries.

"The face of Mona Lisa appears slightly wider and the smile is different and the eyes are different," Cotte said. "The smile is more accentuated I would say." [Why Does Mona Lisa's Smile Change?]

Mona Lisa mysteries

A zoomed-in image of Mona Lisa's left eye revealed a single brush stroke in the eyebrow region, Cotte said.

"I am an engineer and scientist, so for me all has to be logical. It was not logical that Mona Lisa does not have any eyebrows or eyelashes," Cotte told LiveScience. "I discovered one hair of the eyebrow."

Another conundrum had been the position of the subject's right arm, which lies across her stomach. This was the first time, Cotte said, that a painter had rendered a subject's arm and wrist in such a position. While other artists had never understood da Vinci's reasoning, they copied it nonetheless. [Photos: Anatomy Meets Art in Da Vinci's Drawings]

Cotte discovered the pigment just behind the right wrist matched up perfectly with that of the painted cover that drapes across Mona Lisa's knee. So it did make sense: The forearm and wrist held up one side of a blanket.

"The wrist of the right hand is up high on the stomach. But if you look deeply in the infrared you understand that she holds a cover with her wrist," Cotte said.

Behind a painting

The infrared images also revealed da Vinci's preparatory drawings that lie behind layers of varnish and paint, showing that the Renaissance man was also human.

"If you look at the left hand you see the first position of the finger, and he changed his mind for another position," Cotte said. "Even Leonardo da Vinci had hesitation."

Other revelations include:

Lace on Mona Lisa's dress The transparency of the veil shows da Vinci first painted a landscape and then used transparency techniques to paint the veil atop it. A change in the position of the left index and middle finger. The elbow was repaired from damage due to a rock thrown at the painting in 1956. The blanket covering Mona Lisa's knees also covers her stomach. The left finger was not completely finished. A blotch mark on the corner of the eye and chin are varnish accidents, countering claims that Mona Lisa was sick. And the Mona Lisa was painted on uncut poplar board, contrary to speculations.

In the larger picture, Cotte said when he stands back and looks up at the enlarged infrared image of Mona Lisa, her beauty and mystique are apparent.

"If you are in front of this huge enlargement of Mona Lisa, you understand instantly why Mona Lisa is so famous," Cotte said. He added, it's something you have to see with your own eyes.

Van Gogh was a failure as an artist. With about 900 works to his credit, he sold only one during his lifetime. He was unsuccessful with romance and with various jobs. Just before painting Starry Night, he suffered a bout of epilepsy in which he chased a friend with an open razor. Van Gogh later sliced off a piece of his own ear lobe and offered it to a prostitute. He had periods of delusions and lucidity and was sent to an asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment. While there, in 1889, he created this work. He was still a young man of 36. He killed himself a year later, "for the good of all."

We can infer that Van Gogh was certainly very troubled, but in examining the painting, we can't help but marvel at its logical structure. It looks chaotic, but it's really very orderly.

Analysis
The painting uses two primary colors, yellow (stars) and blue ( sky), to illustrate a starry night. Mix the two colors and you get the green of the village and surroundings. It's a two-color painting.

The landscape is bright, but it's night. We can tell by the yellow lights in the windows--little splashes of light that balance the bright stars in the sky.

This painting is all about balance, harmony, and repetition.

Tree
The large cypress tree in the foreground should dominate the painting, but we're drawn to the other elements--the moon, the stars, the swirling sky, and the picturesque village. What's the purpose of the tree?

It establishes perspective. It's definitely in the foreground. The village is in the middle ground, The mountains and sky are background. It's a beautiful setting, but we're not part of it. We're far away. It balances the dark shapes on the right, as well as counter-balancing the glowing crescent moon. It mirrors the church steeple. Both point upward to the vivid sky.
The wavy, turbulent clouds mimic the sweeping hillsides, and they're like a heavenly figure plunging down from above with outstretched arm. Is this a threat or a protective spirit?
The smooth, rolling hills are nothing like the craggy hills near the asylum. Van Gogh painted this from memory, not from direct observation. He took liberties with everything.

Village
The church, the houses, and the roads are blocky and geometric—the human side of the landscape played against God's landscape with its curves and ambiguities. In Van Gogh's mind, which part is chaos and which part is structured?

The Verdict
So was Van Gogh insane when he painted Starry Night? Some critics say his wild brush strokes and odd shapes indicate that he was a bit loony. I don't think so, Tormented and troubled, yes. Crazy, no!

This painting is well planned and beautifully executed. I think he knew exactly what he was doing.
In what city was Vincent van Gogh living when he completed "The Starry Night"?

Saint-Rémy. Vincent van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, the Netherlands in 1853. During his life van Gogh lived in Brussels, Etten, Drenthe, The Hague, Nuenen, Antwerp, Paris, Arles and Saint-Rémy.

In what year did Vincent van Gogh complete "The Starry Night"?

1889. Vincent van Gogh completed "The Starry Night" abut a year before his death in 1890. He began this masterpiece while at the mental hospital Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy.

Who did Vincent van Gogh send "The Starry Night" to so that it could be displayed in Paris?

Theo van Gogh. Theo van Gogh was Vincent van Gogh's younger brother, and, outside of Paul Gauguin, probably the person he was closest to. Theo worked as an art dealer in Paris and helped increase the popularity of artists like Claude Monet and Edgar Degas.

What are the dimensions of the painting "The Starry Night"?

73 x 92 cm. The average size for a painting is about 25 x 34 cm so "The Starry Night" has an area about eight times that of the average painting. By comparison, Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" is 77 x 53 cm, occupying an area about 60% as large as "The Starry Night".

What type of moon is visible in the painting "The Starry Night"?

Crescent moon. The large orange-yellow crescent moon is located in the top-right corner of the painting. A large circular glow surrounds the moon.

How many stars are visible in van Gogh's "The Starry Night"?

11. The eleven stars vary in size with the largest one being located in the foreground. There are approximately four rows of stars: five in the top row, two on the second, one on the third and three on the bottom row. The eleven stars in the painting may be a reference to Genesis 37:9 which reads as follows: "And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."

What tall object stands in the foreground of "The Starry Night"?

A cypress tree. The large cypress tree looks almost like a large greenish-brown flame. The cypress tree dwarfs the church steeple located further back in the painting.

Which of the following is NOT true about van Gogh's "The Starry Night"?

The night sky is pitch black.. The night sky in "The Starry Night" is anything but pitch black. There are wisps of blue and white, large, orange celestial bodies, and illuminated houses and hills.

What museum was "The Starry Night" moved to in 1941?

The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Other well known works in the Museum of Modern Art include "Campbell's Soup Cans" by Andy Warhol and "The Dance" by Henri Matisse. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam contains the largest collection of Van Gogh's works including "Sunflowers", "Bedroom in Arles" and "The Potato Eaters".

What similar work did van Gogh complete a year before "The Starry Night"?

Starry Night Over the Rhone. "Starry Night Over the Rhone" has the same dimensions as "The Starry Night" and it shares a similar color scheme in part of the painting. Vincent van Gogh painted "Starry Night Over the Rhone" while living in Arles. The Ursa Major constellation and two lovers walking down by the river are visible in the painting.
Vincent van Gogh: Starry Night

A Brief Understanding of the Starry Night Paintings.
Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh has risen to the peak of artistic achievements. Although Van Gogh sold only one painting in his life, the aftermath of his work is enormous. Starry Night is one of the most well known images in modern culture as well as being one of the most replicated and sought after prints. From Don McLean's song 'Vincent' (Starry, Starry Night) (Based on the Painting), to the endless number of merchandise products sporting this image, it is nearly impossible to shy away from this amazing painting. One may begin to ask what features within the painting are responsible for its ever growing popularity. There are actually several main aspects that intrigue those who view this image, and each factor affects each individual differently. The aspects will be described below:

1. There is the night sky filled with swirling clouds, stars ablaze with their own luminescence, and a bright crescent moon. Although the features are exaggerated, this is a scene we can all relate to, and also one that most individuals feel comfortable and at ease with. This sky keeps the viewer's eyes moving about the painting, following the curves and creating a visual dot to dot with the stars. This movement keeps the onlooker involved in the painting while the other factors take hold. 2. Below the rolling hills of the horizon lies a small town. There is a peaceful essence flowing from the structures. Perhaps the cool dark colors and the fiery windows spark memories of our own warm childhood years filled with imagination of what exists in the night and dark starry skies. The center point of the town is the tall steeple of the church, reigning largely over the smaller buildings. This steeple casts down a sense of stability onto the town, and also creates a sense of size and seclusion. 3. To the left of the painting there is a massive dark structure that develops an even greater sense of size and isolation. This structure is magnificent when compared to the scale of other objects in the painting. The curving lines mirror that of the sky and create the sensation of depth in the painting. This structure also allows the viewer to interpret what it is. From a mountain to a leafy bush, the analysis of this formation is wide and full of variety.

Van Gogh painted Starry Night while in an Asylum at Saint-Remy in 1889.

During Van Gogh's younger years (1876-1880) he wanted to dedicate his life to evangelization of those in poverty. Many believe that this religious endeavor may be reflected in the eleven stars of the painting. In Genesis 37:9 the following statement is made:

"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."
Whether or not this religious inspiration is true, it is known that the piece is not the only Starry Night painting that Van Gogh ever created. Gogh was quite proud of a piece he had painted earlier in Arles in 1888 that depicted stars reflecting in the Rhone River. Like Starry Night this previous piece shares many of the qualities that have made Starry Night such a popular painting. For instance:

The stars in the night sky are surrounded with their own orb of light. The Reflection of artificial light (new to the time period) from Arles in the river makes the one's eyes move around the painting; thus keeping the viewer visually involved. There are structures in the distant lit up in a warm glow of light.

Starry Night over the Rhone contains one final aspect that is not featured in the Starry Night piece; humans. In the bottom right corner of the painting there is a couple walking along the river. This gives the painting a down to earth feel with a natural quality. Although this painting is not nearly as popular as the seconded Starry Night piece, it still creates a pleasurable and life like environment to look at. It is also resides as a very sought after piece when it is placed with Starry Night and the following painting to create a montage of Van Gogh's Starry Night works.
Cafe Terrace At Night was also painted in Arles in 1888. The similarities between this piece the previous two are vaguely similar. This piece offers a new type of perspective on the star filled sky.

The Stars are barely consumed in their own light. The bright yellow wall draws in ones attention rather then assisting to move one's eyes around the painting. There is a sense of balance attributed to the dark cityscape silhouette to the right of the painting (Contrasting the bright yellow wall).

Never the less these three paintings have astounded millions of people and remain three of the best works ever to flow from Van Gogh's paint brush. Each Day hundreds of people crowd around the original paintings located in various art museums to offer their own personal interpretation as to the meaning of the pieces. Although we may never know how Vincent himself truly felt about these paintings, mankind still embraces their greatness.

Feel free to click on any of the paintings on this page to receive an enlarged view. Below you can look around through various other information we have listed about the Starry Night pieces. Or download wallpapers, icons, and other things for you to use.
Vincent had an older brother who died at birth. His name was also Vincent van Gogh.

Van Gogh was close friends with Paul Gauguin, another famous artist.

Van Gogh suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy as well as other mental and physical conditions.

Vincent shot himself in a wheatfield in Auvers, France but did not die until 2 days later at the age of 37.

Vincent’s brother Theo died six months after Vincent and is buried next to him in Auvers, France.

Vincent’s brother’s wife collected Vincent’s paintings and letters after his death and dedicated herself to getting his work the recognition it deserved.

In a short period of ten years Van Gogh made approximately 900 paintings.

Vincent only sold one painting during his lifetime and only became famous after his death.

Vincent van Gogh did not cut off his ear. He only cut off a small portion of his ear lobe.

Van Gogh created his most famous work The Starry Night while staying in an asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France.

Vincent’s earliest career aspiration was to be a pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church like his father.

Van Gogh wrote over 800 letters in his lifetime. The majority of them written to his brother and closest friend Theo.
Vincent van Gogh was known to be one of the famous and well-renowned painters in the history of art. His works were considered by the world, the works of a genius. One of his masterpieces which brought him to the portals of fame and honor was the widely known and esteemed, The Starry Night.
The Reason for Fame

One may ask why The Starry Night is so popular. One might say perhaps it is because of the stars that make you dream. Vincent van Gogh, himself, described it literally as not one of the important pieces of art that he made. He, the creator of the masterpiece, probably had missed what was so mystical about the painting.
Painting Features

The painting features a scene of a Dutch-looking town. It is mainly composed of stars ablaze in their own luminescence, picturesque town structures, and a bright crescent moon. The painting is exaggerated, as stated by van Gogh himself. It is like a replica of a beautiful night. A viewer might imagine himself in the scene, observing the night in peace and amazement. The night sky keeps the viewer’s eyes moving about the painting while following the curves and creating a dot pattern caused by its swirly pattern.

There are rolling hills that generate an aura of serenity from the town structures. The silent yet bright and fiery dark shades from the window of the structures could spark a viewer’s curiosity of the wonderful dark and starry skies.

A mysterious entity is then shown in the left of the portrait. It can be interpreted in different ways depending on who is viewing it. It creates a visual similarity from its pattern with the night sky. This similarity creates a sensation of depth in the artwork.
The Artist

Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutchman born on the 30th of March, 1853. He was known to be a painter of the post-impressionist style. Post-impressionism was used to describe the maturation of French art since Manet. Vincent practiced the used of vivid colors, distinctive brush strokes, thick application of paint, and unwavering subject matter about the realities of life.

On the other hand, rumors about his death became widely known, positing that the artist died due to an illness brought about by incoherence and inactivity.
Other Works

The Starry Night was just one of Van Gogh’s many works. He grew up loving to draw and later matured as an artist. He had 2,100 artworks, including 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolor paintings, drawings, prints, and sketches. He mostly focused on drawing portraits, including himself and delicately beautiful things like flowers and scenic wheat fields.

Some magnificent works of Vincent Van Gogh include: At Eternity’s Gate, Bedroom in Arles, Café Terrace at Night, and The Potato Eaters.
Oil Painting

The Starry Night was made with oil paint. It involves pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil. The output of the process varies according to the painter’s choice of pigments and effects. It often shows sign of consistency in the painting.

Oil Painting was first used by Indian and Chinese painters for their Buddhist Paintings. Its origin started in western Afghanistan and later migrated to the west during the Middle Ages.