MONALISA PAINTING_ The most famous painting

 MONALISA PAINTING

TheMona Lisa(Monna LisaorLa Giocondain Italian;La Jocondein French) is
a half-length portrait of a woman by the Italianartist Leonardo da
Vinci, which has been acclaimed as "the best known, the most visited,

the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of
art in the world." [ 1 ]
The painting, thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife
of Francesco del Giocondo, is in oil on a white Lombardy poplar panel,
and is believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506, although
Leonardo may have continued working on it as late as 1517. It was
acquired by King Francis I of Franceand is now the property of the
French Republic, on permanent display at The Louvremuseum in
Parissince 1797. [ 2 ]
The ambiguity of the subject's expression, which is frequently
described as enigmatic, [ 3 ]the monumentality of the composition, the
subtle modeling of forms and the atmospheric illusionism were novel
qualities that have contributed to the continuing fascination and
study of the work. [ 4 ]
Title and subject
Main article: Lisa del Giocondo
The title of the painting that is known in English asMona Lisastems
from a description by Renaissanceart historian Giorgio Vasari, who
wrote "Leonardo undertook to paint, for Francesco del Giocondo, the
portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife." [ 5 ] [ 6 ]Monain Italian is a
polite form of address originating asma donna—similar toMa'am,Madam,
or my ladyin English. This became madonna, and its contractionmona.
The title of the painting, though traditionally spelled "Mona" (as
used by Vasari [ 5 ]), is also commonly spelled in modern Italian
as Monna Lisa("mona" being a vulgarity in some Italian dialects) but
this is rare in English.[ citation needed]
Vasari's account of theMona Lisa comes from his biography of Leonardo
published in 1550, 31 years after the artist's death, and which has
long been the best known source of information on the provenance of
the work and identity of the sitter. Leonardo's assistant Salaì, at
his death in 1525, owned a portrait which in his personal papers was
name dla Gioconda, a painting bequeathed to him by Leonardo. That
Leonardo painted such a work, and its date, were confirmed in 2005
when a scholar at Heidelberg University discovered a marginal note in a
1477 printing of a volume written by the ancient Romanphilosopher
Cicero. The note is dated October 1503 and was written by Leonardo's
contemporary Agostino Vespucci. This note likens Leonardo to renowned
Greek painter Apelles, who is mentioned in the text, and states that
Leonardo was at that time working on a painting of Lisa del Giocondo.
[ 7 ]
A margin note by Agostino Vespucci(visible at right) discovered in a
book at Heidelberg University, dating to 1503, states that Leonardo
was working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.
The sitter, Lisa del Giocondo, [ 8 ] [ 9 ]was a member of the
Gherardini family of Florenceand Tuscany, and the wife of wealthy
Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. [ 10 ]The painting is
thought to have been commissioned for their new home, and to celebrate
the birth of their second son, Andrea. [ 11 ]The Italian name for the
painting,La Gioconda, means "jocund" ("happy" or "jovial"), or
literally "the jocund one", a pun on the feminine form of the sitter's
married name Giocondo. [ 10 ] [ 12 ]In French, the title La Joconde has
the same meaning.
Over the years there have been several alternative views among
scholars as to the subject of the painting. Some have argued that Lisa
del Giocondo was the subject of a different portrait, identifying at
least four other paintings as the MonaLisa referred to by Vasari. [ 13
] [ 14 ]Several other individuals have been proposed as the subject of
the painting. [ 15 ] Isabella of Aragon, [ 16 ] Cecilia Gallerani, [
17 ] Costanza d'Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla, [ 15 ] Isabella
d'Este, Pacifica Brandano or Brandino, Isabela Gualanda, Caterina
Sforza, —even Salaìand Leonardo himself— are all among the list of
posited models portrayed in the painting. [ 18 ] [ 19 ]Currently, the
consensus of art historians is that the painting depicts Lisa del
Giocondo, which has always been the traditional view. [ 7

Source: www.wikipedia.com